


Listen to the Waves

by Amarenthina



Category: Bandom, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is...
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 17:55:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4796801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarenthina/pseuds/Amarenthina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brendon was the merfolk prince, until he gave up his voice to go on land. He falls in love with Prince Spencer… and Spencer’s soon to be husband Ryan? Brendon runs away and ends up on an adventure with Jon the blacksmith, while pining over three different people. When pirates attack the kingdom, everything goes wrong, and Brendon has to find a way to save everything he’s sacrificed for.</p><p>Full warnings in notes</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listen to the Waves

**Author's Note:**

> First, I'd like to thank fisa_is_your_friend for the amazing mix and cover art that they made for this fic. You can go listen to it here: 
> 
> http://fisa-is-your-friend.dreamwidth.org/2318.html
> 
> This mix is absolutely perfect. It's spot on with the way it connects to how I felt as I was writing the story. I couldn't have asked for a more authentic mix. The cover art as well is beautiful, and I think it matches how I tried to convey the imagery of the story, with the beaches and the orange colors. Thank you so much for this!
> 
> I also want to thank the mods for Bandom Big Bang for making this challenge possible. (It totally wouldn't have gotten done without a deadline. Thanks!)
> 
> Spoiler alert!!  
> Full warnings: The story has some graphic violence, I suppose, but not much. Warning for supposed character death, that is, character A thought character B was dead but they turned out not to be. 
> 
> Title comes from part of a poem by Julie Larios  
> "Listen to the waves  
> break on the shore—  
> half song, half roar.  
> Listen to the beach  
> answer back—  
> half cry, half laugh."

Brendon Urie was born in the darkest depths of the North Sea, to loving parents who also happened to be the king and queen. Of the merpeople. Of the North Sea, of course. 

Brendon Urie was born to a family with seven children, of which he was the youngest. He was born to a family with the pressure of hundreds of people depending on them for protection.

He was born into a culture that couldn’t afford to risk discovery. He was born to a culture that discouraged exploration, placed a huge importance on obedience. 

Brendon Urie never was good at obeying orders.

When Brendon Urie was eighteen years old, he was allowed to go to the surface of his known world, as was tradition. And so he went. And so he found, that his known world was so much smaller than he had ever known.

\----

Brendon swam upward as fast as he could. He had lost the royal guards that his parents had assigned to him like ten minutes ago, and the water was finally lightening enough that he could see the sky. He broke through the surface of the water and splashed his way into a stable position, head above the water. His tail moved slowly beneath the surface, treading hard so he didn’t sink. He stared across the water, amazed. It was. It was different than he had expected. 

It seemed more solid. More unstable, than the water, like things fell over more easily. It seemed like a more dangerous place. He wondered how the humans did it. 

Brendon swam forward, getting closer to the shore. His parents had warned him thoroughly not to be seen by the humans, but he had to risk it. He had to get closer. 

He could see a ship, far in the distance, looking much different than the ones he had seen at the bottom of the ocean. It was incredible.

He swam towards it, diving back under the water and picking up speed to get close. Once he was closer, he circled it, getting a good look at the entire underside. It was sliding through the water, quickly, although not as efficiently as, say, a whale. Brendon was so busy staring at it, that he didn’t notice the other ship coming up behind him until it blocked the light. 

Brendon spun in the water to see the other ship. It looked much the same, to his disappointment. He wondered if they would look different from above the surface. 

He swam to the side a little so that he wasn’t in between the two ships anymore, and carefully floated to the surface. He poked his head just a little bit above the water and watched the two ships. 

He was right about them looking different from above the surface. One of them was a beautiful ship, with fancy looking wood and decorations all over the place. The other ship looked, well, kind of evil. It was damaged, he could tell, the wood scarred up from battle after battle. It had an awful lot of weapons attached to it, as well. And, Brendon noticed, the flag was one that had been described to him many times. A chill ran down his spine.

This was a pirate ship.

And the other ship, the fancy one. That one had a flag that matched Kara’s description of the flags of the kingdom on the shore nearest their home. The one his sister had seen on her trip to the surface. That must have meant it was one of the ships from the kingdom, right?

As Brendon watched, the pirate ship drew closer. People were moving around on both ships, and Brendon heard yelling and screaming. Suddenly, the pirate ship fired on the other one. The cannon was deafening, unlike anything Brendon had ever heard before, and the smell of smoke and gunpowder filled the air. He watched the fancy ship rock as it was struck. There were more screams now, louder, and then the pirates fired again. The ship didn’t seem like it could last much longer. 

Brendon realized, suddenly and painfully, that all of those ships he had seen sitting at the bottom of the ocean, were there because of things like this. Because of pirates, or war, but just people firing on each other for no good reason. He realized that people were dying, were going to die, because of that. People had died before. 

Except, there were rowboats attached to the sides of the ship, and people were climbing into them and dropping into the water. It looked like they were all escaping. Brendon ducked into the water for a moment as a cannon fired frighteningly close to him. When he came back up, there was a boat close to him, one of the rowboats. He swam back a little bit, hiding behind a chunk of wood that had fallen off of the fancy ship. 

Brendon wanted to stay close enough that he could still see the rowboat that was near him; one of the men on it had caught his eye. He had soft looking brown hair, and Brendon was enamoured as he watched the boy cling to the little boat as it rocked. A much larger man on the boat with him held onto him so he didn’t fall. 

The pirate ship was quiet for a moment, and the waves started to die down. Brendon stayed where he was and watched the boy. He was shivering a little, most of his clothes wet from the waves. 

There was a loud, final cannon boom, and the fancy ship shuddered and began to capsize. Brendon watched in horror as a huge wave washed over all the boats. Most people were far enough away that they could hold on, they’re boats were fine, but the rowboat with two people in it, the one closest to him, was not fine. The wave crashed into it hard, and both men went flying. 

The smaller man, the one who had gotten Brendon’s attention, crashed into a piece of wreckage near Brendon, and Brendon saw him go limp, a little bit of blood floating away from his hairline as he went limp in the water and started to sink. 

Brendon swam towards him, panic choking him. He didn’t even know the boy, but he knew he couldn’t just let him drown. 

He dove into the water, wrapping his arms around the boy’s chest, and hauled him towards the surface. He didn’t know much about humans, but was pretty sure they couldn’t breathe in the water like he could. 

He got to the surface, hauling the boy towards a bit of driftwood that looked sturdy, and struggled to lift him onto it. Humans were heavy.

He brushed the hair out of the boy’s eyes, searching frantically over his face for a sign of life. He didn’t seem to be breathing. Brendon tried to think what to do, touching his face, wishing he would wake up. 

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the boy started coughing, rolling onto his side and spitting up water. Brendon felt his fear ease up, breathing normally again as the boy gasped for air. 

He looked up and scanned the water around them, looking for the other people who had been on the ship. For a moment, he didn’t see them, and then he saw that the pirate ship had disappeared and been replaced with another fancy ship. 

He realized it was another ship from the kingdom, and that it was rescuing the passengers from the one that had sank. He didn’t see the boy’s very large companion anywhere, but he hoped that the man was safe. The ship didn’t seem to see them, didn’t seem to be coming towards them. 

In fact, it looked like it was actually heading in the opposite direction. Brendon realized, squinting at it, framed by the brightness of a setting sun, that it was probably heading back towards it’s kingdom. It was just going to leave the boy there.

“Zack?” The boy rasped from beside him, trying to sit up and rocking the piece of driftwood. 

“Hey.” Brendon said. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Shhh. Shhh.” 

“Wha-” The boy seemed confused and panicked, so Brendon did the only thing he knew to do when people were upset. He gently rubbed the boy’s shoulder, and started singing. 

He sang quietly, in his most soothing voice, as he watched the ship get further and further away and tried to figure out what to do. He knew he couldn’t just leave the boy here, hurt and scared. He could drown! Or the pirates could come back! 

But he didn’t know what he should do. 

After thinking about it for the entire length of his baby cousin’s favorite nursery song, he had only come up with one solution. He had to swim the boy back to his land-kingdom. He would follow the ship, he figured, and pull the driftwood behind him, and get the boy back home safe.

He made sure that the boy was safe on the piece of driftwood, and slowly started to swim through the water, pushing the driftwood in front of him. The sea around him was finally quiet, no sound except for the lapping of the waves against the driftwood. He started to hum again, feeling unnerved by the quiet. 

Because the quiet wasn’t the same as quiet under the water. It was open quiet, cold and creepy. Underwater felt heavy and safe. 

As Brendon swam, the boy shifted on the driftwood. “Who’s there?” He mumbled. 

Brendon stopped humming. “Hello.” He said quietly. 

“Hello?” The boy said. His eyes were squeezed shut and his face was scrunched with pain. It would have been adorable if Brendon wasn’t so worried about him being hurt. 

 

“What happened?” The boy asked.

“There were, I think there were pirates.” Brendon said. “They sank your ship.”

The boy frowned and rolled his head to the side a little. “Where’s Zack?”

“Who’s Zack?” Brendon asked. 

 

“My bodyguard.” 

Brendon assumed he meant the big guy who had been on the boat with him. “I don’t know. There was another fancy ship, picking people up. Maybe it got him.”

“Oh.” The boy said. “Will you sing again?”

So Brendon started singing. He sang through the long, long journey through the dark waters, following the ship to the shore. His voice was hoarse by the end of it, and he had sung all of the songs he knew from his parents, from their church. He kept singing, all the way until they got to the shore. 

When he saw the shore, the bright lights of the kingdom the way his sister had described them, he smiled with relief. 

“Hey. Hey, wake up. We’re here. I brought you home.” He said. 

He slowly dragged the driftwood up to the beach where he could leave it safely and turned to go back into the water. The boy sat up a little, eyes still shut. 

“Wait.” He said. “Wait, where are you going? Come back. Stay with me.”

Brendon smiled sadly. “I’m sorry.” He said.

“Wait, please. You saved me, you’re always welcome here.” The boy said. 

Brendon hid his sadness behind a smile as he dove back into the water.

\------

Brendon returned home, his guards catching up with him halfway back, and received a harsh warning from his parents about how he needed to be careful. The surface was dangerous, humans were evil, blah blah blah. 

Brendon had always believed his parents when they had said the humans were evil, but now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe they weren’t perfect. Maybe they messed things up, like the time his older brother had accidently destroyed an entire wall of their palace. But could they really be evil? All of them? Brendon didn’t think so. 

And then there was that boy. Brendon couldn’t stop thinking about him. Two weeks passed, and still he couldn’t stop thinking about him. His face, scrunched up and scared as Brendon had rescued him, but cute all the same. His hair had been so soft and shiny. Brendon hoped he was all right. But Brendon had lost him. Brendon had lost him for good, and it hurt so much. 

Finally, when he couldn’t stand it anymore, Brendon took off, swimming back up to the surface. But this time he headed closer to the shore. Not quite where he had dropped the boy off, but further up. He wanted to see the forests that his sister had told him about. He wanted to see a sunrise. He wanted to see a thunderstorm, he wanted to see a bright sunny day. He wanted to see everything. 

So he snuck out and headed upwards until his head broke the surface. He spent hours there, floating at the top of the water, swimming a little ways up a river that fed into their ocean just to see where it went. 

He found a secluded part of the shore, with warm, flat rocks sticking out of the water, and he climbed one of them and just sat there, feeling his skin and hair dry for the first time in his life. It was strange, but somehow, being above the surface made him feel more real than before. More alive. 

After the first day, he realized that his family hadn’t realized where he had gone, so he continued to visit the surface. He got to see a storm on the fifth day, and it was terrifying and exhilarating. There were giant waves and swells that picked him up and threw him back into the water. There was water pouring down from the sky, soaking him even when he was above the surface, but still feeling completely different from being submerged. He saw the sky above flash with fire and crash loudly as though something big were being tossed around the clouds. It was so loud and so bright, instead of the muted, deadened way everything underwater was. 

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

Now, when he went home, it all seemed so dull. The sounds were so quiet, the colors so pale, the movements slower, albeit smoother. It was stifling. 

He found himself spending more and more time on the surface. The deep ocean just didn’t compare to it. But one day, as he was heading towards his favorite estuary, his sister caught up to him. 

“Brendon.” She said. She looked worried and kind of sad. 

“Kara.” Brendon said, resisting the urge to fold his arms over his chest. 

“Where are you going?”

“The Surface.” Brendon said. It was true, and technically he was allowed, but Kara’s face fell when she heard it.

“Brendon…” She began, frowning at him. “Brendon, we’re all a little worried about you.”

He swallowed, trying to stay calm. “Why would you be worried?”

“Brendon. You know why. You shouldn’t spend so much time up there. It could mess with your head.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with it up there.” Brendon said. “It’s nice up there.”

“Okay, but Brendon. It’s nice because it’s a place to go once in a while. You can’t go up there all the time.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because you don’t belong up there! You’re not a human, Brendon, you belong down here with us.”

Brendon hated the way she spat “human” at him like it was a dirty word. She had probably never met a human. He had, and he had been nice. He hadn’t been… He hadn’t been the way his family always tried to pretend humans were. “Maybe I don’t like it down here.” He said.

Kara gasped and floated a couple inches away from him. “Brendon. You can’t say that, Brendon, take it back. Brendon, you don’t mean that.”

“Maybe I do.” Brendon said. He wasn’t sure that he did, but in the face of Kara’s reaction, he kind of felt the need to stick to it. 

 

“Brendon. Please, you can’t say things like that. You can’t let Mom and Dad hear you talking like that, don’t you understand?” She pleaded with him. 

“Not really.” Brendon snapped. 

“Please, Brendon, I’m trying to protect you. I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on the surface, but if Mom and Dad find out, they’ll be so upset.”

“I met a human.” Brendon found himself blurting out. 

“What? You what?”

“I met a human.” He said. “That’s why I’m so fixated.” It wasn’t, really, or at least it wasn’t the entire reason, but he didn’t think Kara would understand if he said ‘The forests are so pretty.’ She had seen the forests, and although she had been impressed, she hadn’t fallen in love with them. Not the way Brendon had.

“You did not.” Kara seemed horrified, disbelieving. “Brendon, tell me you didn’t.”

“I did.” Brendon said. “He was beautiful.” 

“Brendon! You can’t!” Kara didn’t just seem horrified now, she seemed terrified. 

“Why not?” Brendon asked. “There’s no reason I can’t.”

“Brendon, it’s wrong.” She insisted. “It’s wicked.”

Brendon blinked at her, shocked. “Kara.” He said. “I thought. I thought you would get it.” 

“Brendon, I can’t. You can’t do this.” Brendon turned away, stung. 

“You can’t stop me.” He said angrily. “Don’t try to.”

“Brendon!” 

Brendon ignored her, swimming away as fast as he could. He made it to the estuary and pulled himself out of the river, sitting on a rock. His tail lashed angrily in the water. 

It was a cooler day than usual, and Brendon relished the cold as he calmed down. It was completely different from the bone deep feeling of cold water. This cold stung his skin, but wasn’t cold enough to feel in his bones. It was novel and amazing. 

Brendon sat there for a long time, trying to figure out what he should do. He didn’t come up with much except the idea to run away from home, which. The sea was only so big, and that wasn’t where he wanted to be, anyway. 

When the sun started to go down and the air got cold enough he found himself shivering, he slid back into the water and headed for home. 

As soon as he entered the palace, he knew something was wrong. There were usually people everywhere, swimming every which direction, but the main hall was completely empty. He swam through the halls, heading for his parent’s throne room. They would probably be there, and they could explain what was going on. 

When he got there, he realized with a sinking feeling what was probably going on. Both his parents stood waiting for him, Kara standing off to the side with a guilty face. 

“Brendon.” His mom said. “Where have you been?”

He raised his chin and set his jaw. “On the surface.”

His mother shut her eyes and leaned back. His father looked pained. “Brendon. You cannot continue like this. We will not allow it.” 

Brendon took a couple of shallow breaths. “You can’t stop me.” He said. 

“We can, and we will.” His father’s voice was harsh and angry. “From now on, if you refuse to obey our wishes, you will be confined to your room.”

Brendon stared at him. “For how long?”

“Until you change your mind.” He said. “I’m sorry, Brendon. This is for your own good.”

Brendon swallowed hard, staring between his father and his mother, and then at Kara. She mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ at him. 

“Fine.” He snapped. “Fine.” He turned and swam from the throne room as quickly as he could, going straight to his room. There was no doubt in his mind that his parents would follow him to make sure he went there and stayed there. 

He got to his room and pulled the seaweed curtains shut, getting as much privacy as he could. He curled up in a ball near the floor, burying his face in his hands. His heart hurt, and his throat felt funny in a way that it only ever had when he had scraped a long, bloody scratch on his tail when he was ten. He tried to breathe as much as he could. It was hard. He was so angry, so scared. He didn’t know what to do. 

He couldn’t visit the surface anymore. Except he had to visit the surface. He needed it like he needed oxygen, in a way that he couldn’t explain to his family, because they preferred to use their gills instead of their lungs.

Brendon managed to calm himself down, thinking to himself over and over that he would figure it out, he would think of something. He wasn’t going to give up, he wasn’t just going to accept this and stay in his room for the rest of his life. And if that meant running away, since that was the only idea he’d had so far, then so be it. 

He sat up, laying back and taking in deep breaths again. If he was going to run away, he needed a plan. More than just a plan, he needed to find a way to make running away worth losing his family. There was no point in running away just to be trapped somewhere else, away from his family. 

Brendon looked around his room, racking his mind for an idea. There had to be a way, there had to be. He just didn’t know what it was. 

His gaze landed on his old set of figurines, the hand carved ones that matched up with some of the characters from the old myths, and then he realized. 

Everyone knew the story of the sea witch, the strange, magical creature in the darkest grotto, a woman who granted people things but at a great price. Brendon swam over and picked up the figurine. It was a carved figure of a round woman, with tentacles instead of a single tail. Brendon had been fascinated by the story as a child. 

Because what if the stories were wrong? What if the price wasn’t always too high? What if there was actually a way?

Of course, there was always the chance that the sea witch didn’t actually exist, but at this point, Brendon was desperate.

So he started planning. 

He decided that he would sneak out during the night, when most of the castle was resting. He could go out through his window, and if he stayed low to the sea floor he could get quickly through the royal coral gardens and out to the open sea. From there, he knew the general direction he had to head to get to the sea witch’s supposed grotto. He had been near it before, with his brothers on a dare, but never very close. 

He swam circles around the limited space in his bedroom, suddenly reenergized and excited. He had to wait a while. He hoped someone would bring him food at some point before it was time to go.

Time passed more slowly than it ever had that night, and finally, the entire palace was quiet and Brendon could gently shift the seaweed over his window out of the way and slither out. 

He took in air through his gills and exhaled through his lungs hard, letting the air release push him downwards. Once close to the sea floor, he started swimming, staying as low as he could. He made it to the coral gardens without incident, and from there swam quickly through them, looking for the ‘secret paths’ he and Kara had discovered through years of playing hide and seek in them.

When he hit the open sea, he wanted to yell with joy, but he knew he had to stay quiet. There was still the chance of being discovered, and while he could out-swim most of his usual guards, he didn’t stand a chance against people actually trying to catch him.

So he stayed quiet, and swam swiftly through the dark, hushed sea.

He made it to the place where he had been with his brothers sometime around halfway through the night. So far down in the ocean, it was extra dark, and many of the fish around him glowed and flashed by their own light. Brendon reached out to pet a glowing eel that swam past him, entranced. It was also cold, so deep, and the silence pressed more heavily on Brendon. It was kind of cool, although it freaked him the hell out. 

Brendon swam deeper, ever so slowly. He didn’t see any other merpeople, only fish. He finally got deep enough that he found the caves where the fabled sea witch lived. 

It was kind of terrifying to even consider going further, but he’d already come this far, so Brendon braced himself and swam into the cave with a soft glow emanating from it. He only got a little ways into it before a voice yelled “Who’s there?”

The voice was admittedly kind of high pitched and squeaky, but Brendon was pretty sure it was male. He stopped dead. “Um. Hello?” He called.

The light got closer, and then a person swam into view. 

Brendon stared. “Um.” He said. “Wait.”

The man rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am the sea witch, no, I am not a witch. Seriously, dress in drag one time and everyone gets all mixed up.” He circled the room, octopus tentacles propelling him faster than Brendon could easily swim. “I’m Gerard. And you are?”

“Brendon.” Brendon said, his anxiety returning as he realized that he had to explain what he was doing there now. 

“Ah, Brendon.” Gerard said. “Of course. The youngest son of the King and Queen. Oh! And… let’s see. You want to be human?”

Brendon blinked, surprised that the man knew exactly what he needed without being told. “Is that possible?”

“Oh, anything is possible, really.” The man said. “You wouldn’t believe the things that are possible.”

“Okay.” Brendon said. “Um. Yeah. I need to be human.”

“Interesting.” The man said, turning away from him and floating around the room a bit. “Well, I can help you, but there’s a price. There’s always a price, with this magic stuff.”

“What’s the price?” Brendon asked hesitantly. He had a feeling in his heart that he was desperate to pay something he probably shouldn’t. 

“Well, it’s hard to say, you know. It’s not completely clear cut. But for you to become human, you would need to lose the tail,” The man picked up what looked like a paintbrush and waved it at Brendon, “And gain a pair of legs. And when you gain something, through magic, it doesn’t always work perfectly. Well. It never works perfectly. Full disclosure.”

“What do you mean it never works perfectly?” Brendon asked. “Would I be able to walk?”

“Who can say, really?” Gerard shrugged. “Might be. Might be some other problem. And that’s not the only thing.”

“What else?”

“Something would have to be sacrificed to, shall we say, facilitate the trade. I don’t know what it would be, but it would be important to you. And whatever you end up giving up, you never, ever, get back. 

Brendon took a deep breath. It was terrifying. It was incredibly terrifying, to be floating here considering this trade, which would cost him something important and not work perfectly. 

But it would get him legs. It would make him a human. 

Brendon thought it might be worth it. 

“I’ll do it.” He said, very quietly. Then he repeated it, loudly enough that Gerard, who was distracted, would hear it. “I’ll do it. What do I have to do?”

Gerard set down his paintbrush and swam back over to Brendon. “I’ll make you a potion, and then you must follow my instructions exactly. First, you must wait until you are on the shore to take the potion. If you don’t, it won’t matter what you had to give up, because you’ll drown.” He giggled a little. Brendon didn’t see what was so funny, but he nodded. 

“Second, once you are human you can not turn back. You will be a human until the day you die. Third, you must get your little friend to fall in love with you. The one with the shiny hair? He’s a prince, by the way, but I suppose you are too, so you won’t make it into a big deal, right?”

“Wait, what?” Brendon felt his eyes bug out. “What prince?”

“That boy you rescued. With the shiny hair. The prince, of that kingdom on the shore?”

“He’s a prince.” Brendon said.

“Yes, that’s what I just said. Try to keep up. Anyway, you have to get him to fall in love with you. If he marries someone else, then you’ll become sea foam and die the next time you enter the ocean. Understand?”

“Okay.” Brendon said. That seemed like a pretty big clause, but all right.

“All right. I don’t think I forgot anything.” Gerard said, looking thoughtful. “Nope! Let me just prepare the potion now, and then you can be on your way.”

Brendon watched uneasily as Gerard set a cauldron on top of a heat vent and started dumping things in it. The thing sent various colors floating into the water, and Brendon swam backwards a little bit to avoid touching them. After stirring it for a while, Gerard added one final ingredient, dipped a vial into the cauldron and corked it, and then handed it to Brendon. 

“There you go. One human making potion. No refunds or returns of any sort, best of luck with your new life.” Brendon wrapped his hand around the vial.

“Thank you.” He said, holding on to it tightly. 

Gerard waved him off. “Go on, then. Go get your prince.”

Brendon took off, leaving the cave, and the dark, dark depths, and heading straight up to the surface. Once he had broke the surface, he floated on his back in the middle of the sea, staring at the stars. He wondered if maybe he should go back and see his home one last time before he left forever, but he worried that his parents might find him and stop him from leaving. 

It was sad, but he couldn’t risk it. And anyway, he didn’t think he would miss it. Much. 

He swam towards the shore where he had left the boy. The prince, apparently. When he got close enough to see the town, he saw how brightly the lights of it were glowing. He got to the sand, and dragged himself out of the water. The dry sand chafed on his skin, but his scales were tough enough it didn’t hurt. One hand at a time, he dragged himself almost entirely out of the water. Once he was there, he sat back and uncorked the potion. 

The water lapped softly against the shore, and the moon shone down on him, reflecting brightly on the water of what used to be Brendon’s home. Brendon tilted his head back and chugged down the entire bottle of potion, and then tossed the vial and the cork back into the sea. 

He licked his lips once he had swallowed. It honestly just tasted salty. Like seawater. He was wondering if maybe Gerard had accidentally just given him a vial of water instead of potion when his head spun and he fell back onto the sand. 

He tried to take deep breaths, but his vision was going dark. He really, really hoped Gerard hadn’t messed it up and given him, like, poison instead. He tried to open his eyes again, and saw the moon shining, round and bright above, and then passed out.

\--------

 

Brendon woke up to yelling, and then a hand on his chest. He felt heat on his skin, like one of the hot springs Kara loved, except he wasn’t in the water. 

“Hey! Hello, are you okay? Please wake up!” 

Brendon tried to make a sound, say he was okay, but nothing came out. 

“Zack, can you get a blanket?” The voice called, and wait. Brendon knew that voice. He opened his eyes and looked up into the startlingly blue eyes of the boy he had rescued, framed by the brightness of a morning sun. 

The boy he was supposed to get to fall in love with him. 

Wow. Okay, then. 

The boy smiled down at Brendon. And okay, Brendon hadn’t seen that smile before. That was a beautiful smile. “Are you okay?” He asked. 

Brendon opened his mouth and tried to say that he was, but all that came out was a breath. No sound. He frowned, getting a bad feeling, and reached up to touch his throat. 

The boy above him frowned as well. He looked up, and Brendon followed his gaze to see the big man that had been on the boat with the boy coming over. He draped a blanket over Brendon’s legs, and holy shit. Brendon had legs!

Brendon looked up again, feeling overwhelmed and trying to get his thoughts in order. Okay, so here was his prince, and his prince’s bodyguard, and a couple of horses, and he had legs. 

The boy jumped up and jogged over to the two horses that Brendon had just noticed were standing a little way away from the surf and grabbed a canteen of water. He brought it over to Brendon and handed it to him. Brendon smiled gratefully and took a long drink. 

“Better?” The boy asked. Brendon cleared his throat and tried to talk again, and.

The boy frowned, watching Brendon get more and more agitated as nothing but air came out. “Not better, then?” 

“What’s the problem?” The big man asked. 

“He can’t seem to talk.” The prince said. Brendon leaned back a little bit, feeling suddenly extremely discouraged. How the hell was he supposed to convince the prince to fall in love with him if he couldn’t talk? How was he supposed to do anything?

“Okay.” The boy said, looking thoughtful. “Are you hurt? Just nod yes or no.”

Brendon shook his head no. 

“Can you normally talk, though?” He asked next. 

Brendon nodded, pouting a little. He loved talking. 

The boy laughed a little bit and said “Okay. Um. Where did you come from?” 

Brendon almost pointed at the sea, but he realized that would be hard to explain. Humans weren’t supposed to know about merfolk, and if he couldn’t talk, it probably wasn’t even worth trying to explain. Instead, he just raised an eyebrow at the boy. 

“Oh. Right. Yes or no. Um.” He hesitated for a moment. “Do you remember what happened to you?” He asked. 

Brendon nodded his head yes, and when the boy followed up with “Can you tell us?” Brendon told him no. 

“Okay. I don’t know. Do you want to- wait, do you know who I am?” He asked. 

Brendon thought for a moment, and then lifted his hand and waggled it back and forth, trying to convey “kind of.”

“Okay.” The boy laughed again. Brendon liked when he laughed. He liked it a lot. “I’m Spencer. My name is Spencer Smith the Fifth. My dad is not Spencer Smith the Fourth, but my great grandpa was. They kind of bring it back every couple of generations.”

Brendon grinned, wanting to laugh. 

“I’m the um. The crown prince of this kingdom? Only. Well, it’s more complicated than that, but I don’t know that you want to hear that so I’m not going to get into it.” He rambled. 

Brendon smiled still, tilting his head to the side and trying to show how interested he was.

“Um. So, then, what I was going to say, was, do you want to come back to the castle with us? We can help you figure out what happened. Or like, help you help us figure it out. I don’t know.”

Brendon nodded quickly. That was exactly what he needed. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard to do.

“What’s your name, little dude?” The big guy asked. “I’m Zack. I’m princeling here’s bodyguard.”

Brendon nodded, and then tried to mouth his name. 

Both men made a face, exchanged a glance, and then Spencer said, “Okay, try again, but slower?”

Brendon did it again, and Zack asked. “Brendon?” 

Brendon grinned hard and nodded. 

“Brendon.” Spencer repeated. “Awesome.”

“We should get back to the castle, then.” Spencer said. “You need clothes, by the way.” 

Brendon grinned at him, wiggling a little bit in the sand. 

“Can you walk?” Spencer asked next. 

Brendon stopped wiggling and drew in a breath. He didn’t know if he could walk. He hoped so. 

He shrugged, and then rolled a little so he was on his knees, holding the blanket around his waist. He slowly pushed himself into a standing position, and then tried to take a step forward. 

Shocking, knife sharp pain lanced it’s way up his feet and legs, and he inhaled hard and went down. His hands were still holding onto the blanket, so he went straight headfirst into the sand. 

That had hurt. A lot. He lay there in the sand for a moment, trying to recover, but then Spencer was rolling him onto his back. “Are you okay?” He asked frantically. 

Brendon nodded, trying to smile. It was harder than before. He slowly got to his feet again, and this time braced himself before taking a step. It hurt like hell, but he gritted his teeth and kept walking. He managed to do it, only limping a little. He tried to disguise the limping as unsteadiness on his feet. 

He made it over to the horses and then nearly fell over again, but Spencer was there, catching his arm and holding him steady. “You can ride with me.” He said. “Do you need help getting up?”

Brendon nodded. Zack came over and, in one swift move, picked Brendon up and put him on the horse. Spencer climbed on behind him and put his arms around him to grab the reins and hold him steadily in place. Brendon leaned back a little, grinning when Spencer chuckled. 

Zack led, and Spencer directed his horse to follow, and the three of them made their way through the town and into the castle. Spencer watched, fascinated as they entered the gates. It was wildly different than his home, his parents’ palace. It seemed much heavier, sturdier. Brendon wondered how much more difficult it had been to build. 

They were riding through the courtyard when a woman came out and started yelling. Spencer sighed, and pulled the horses to a halt. 

“Really, Spencer?” She yelled, as soon as she was close enough to be understood. “The Rosses are getting here first thing next week, and you know we have to be ready, that you have to make a good impression, and you still go off on your ridiculous regular morning beach ride to honor the ship sinking? Really?” 

‘Regular morning beach ride?’ Brendon wondered. That was strange. 

“Yes, mother, I know the Rosses are going to be here next week.” Spencer said tiredly. “I know. And most of my preparation is taken care of. I just took a little time to myself, and look, it’s good that I did, because we found someone!”

“What does that mean?” The woman demanded. 

Zack stepped forward, tossing a quelling look back at Spencer. “We found a boy collapsed on the beach, ma’am. He can’t speak and we’re not sure where he came from.” 

Now the woman looked up at Brendon. For a moment she just stared, looking completely dumbfounded. 

“Right...” She said. 

“He’s going to stay here.” Spencer said, not leaving any room for argument. “We’re going to go find him a room, now, and then I’ll keep getting ready for the Rosses arrival. Okay?”

“I. Okay.” Spencer’s mother just shook her head in disbelief. “Fine. Just be ready.” She turned and headed back inside.

Spencer turned and helped Brendon off of the horse. Brendon’s knees buckled from the pain when his feet hit the ground, but he gritted his teeth and straightened up. The horses were passed to a stable helper, and then Spencer and Zack led Brendon inside. They went up the stairs and through the castle, until they got to a part of it that was slightly warmer than the rest of the castle. 

Spencer found a room that wasn’t being used and threw open the door. “How’s this one?” He asked Brendon. Brendon smiled and threw thumbs up. Spencer grinned back, and led him inside. Brendon went straight to the bed and collapsed on it, going completely limp as he finally got off of his feet. 

“So, um, I’ve got some chores that I have to do before the Rosses get here.” Spencer said. He rolled his eyes, obviously not thinking too highly of the Rosses coming over. Brendon nodded slowly, not having any clue who the Rosses were or why they were coming over. 

“So, I’m going to go. Zack can bring you some of my clothes. I think they’ll fit you. You can just hang out here, or explore the castle, no one will care. It’s your choice. Although, if you come back here when the clock strikes twelve, then I can meet you here and help you find the dining hall for lunch?”

Brendon nodded. He found himself suddenly excited at the thought of tasting land-people’s food. He wondered how different it would be. 

Spencer and Zack headed out to take care of their chores. Zack came back pretty quick to hand Brendon a bundle of clothing, and once he was dressed, Brendon rolled over to lay on his back on the bed and think things over. 

He figured things could be a lot worse. He had managed to become human and get on land, and then had immediately been taken in by the prince, and given a place to stay. Apparently when Gerard had said that his legs might not work very well, he had meant it would hurt beyond belief to try to walk. When he had said that there would be another payment, apparently that meant Brendon’s voice. That was pretty sad. Everyone said Brendon had a beautiful singing voice.

But then, when he thought about it, that brought up another problem. Did Spencer recognize him? Did Spencer know that Brendon had been the one to save him from the shipwreck?

Because the more Brendon thought about it, the more sure he was that Spencer had kept his eyes closed the entire time Brendon had been rescuing him. So he would only be able to recognize him by his voice. But now that Brendon was here, he couldn’t talk. So Spencer could see him but not hear him. And would probably never realize that Brendon was the one to save him. 

Alright, then. Maybe Brendon didn’t need Spencer to remember being saved by Brendon. That would be kind of a dumb reason to fall in love with him anyway. 

Brendon stayed in bed for a long time, just waiting for Spencer to come back and bring him to lunch, but he had been up late the night before, and he ended up falling asleep without meaning to. 

He woke up a few hours later to hear knocking on the door. “Brendon?”

Brendon jumped out of the bed quickly and opened the door. 

“Hey.” Spencer said, smiling. “Were you sleeping?”

Brendon nodded cocking his head to try to convey his mild confusion, and Spencer laughed, reaching out to pat Brendon’s hair down where it was sticking up all over his head. 

Brendon made a weird face and touched his hair, feeling how messy it had gotten once it had finally dried. He also noticed how incredibly sandy it was.

“Come on.” Spencer said. “Let’s go get some food.” 

They started walking through the halls towards where Spencer said the dining hall was. Brendon made it about ten steps before he had to stop and lean against a wall, letting the pain in his feet ebb. He took deep breaths, trying not to wince as he waited. 

“Hey, Brendon? Are you all right?” Spencer sounded pretty panicked, but Brendon nodded, waving him off. He rubbed at his feet a little bit. 

“Is it your feet? They hurt?” Spencer asked. Brendon nodded, giving him a sad little smile. “Is it, like, are you hurt? Do you need to see a doctor?”

Brendon shook his head. He straightened up and started walking again, only limping a little bit and trying to make it all the way to the dining hall without stopping. 

They eventually got to the dining hall, and Spencer had Brendon sit down next to him and Zack. Brendon was surprised to see a bunch of the service people from around the castle sitting there with them. At his palace, his parents palace, only high up officials and ‘important people’ were allowed to sit at the table with them. 

Brendon kind of approved of Spencer’s family’s way of doing things better. He had had a friend who was one of the coral gardeners at one point, but when his father had found out, Brendon was forbidden to talk to him anymore. When Brendon didn’t obey, his parents had fired his friend, and after that Brendon didn’t try to talk to people ‘beneath his status’ as his parents liked to say. 

Of course, he didn’t live with his parents anymore, and might never see them again, so he figured he could talk to the servants all he wanted. 

Or, smile and nod at them, since he couldn’t actually talk. 

While they waited for someone to bring the food out, Spencer turned to Brendon and started to talk.

“So I was thinking, okay, and. Can you write?” 

Brendon shook his head. He had a vague idea what writing was, but had no clue how to even start comprehending it. 

“Oh.” Spencer looked like that was not the answer he was expecting. “Well. I could start to teach you how. You already, like, know how to talk, even if you physically can’t, right? So you’ll probably pick it up pretty quickly. And then the other thing was, we could start making up signs, like hand signals that mean words. My little sister had a friend when she was little who was deaf, so she had all these hand signals that she used with people.”

Brendon nodded, grinning. He had known people who had used sign languages before. He personally didn’t know any, but he thought it would be really cool to make one up with Spencer. 

“Yeah, so we should definitely start working on that. If you want, we could go over, like letters after lunch, and then you could start learning to read on your own while I do my chores.” Brendon nodded again, beaming. 

Spencer gave him one of his beautiful, sunny smiles and then the food arrived and Brendon was immediately distracted. Because, wow, that food. 

The first thing he noticed was the smell. Everything had been cooked over a fire, and it smelled so good, roasted and smoky. Someone put a bunch of pieces of chicken down in front of Brendon’s plate, and Brendon almost died it smelled so good, all greasy and covered in spices. Wow. 

There wasn’t a whole lot to smell when you spent your entire life underwater, and that was one of the things Brendon had loved when he first found the surface. Apparently he hadn’t even been experiencing it to the full degree, because food smelled so amazing.

He waited a moment before he started taking food, watching Spencer to make sure that he wasn’t breaking any strange surface social norms, but once he was sure he wasn’t, he took a bunch of the chicken and vegetables and started eating. And wow. He thought he was missing things scentwise, living underwater all his life, but that didn’t even compare to the tastes he had been missing. 

He ate quickly, but he also got full quickly. There was so much good food available, he hated the thought of not eating it all right now. But he had to stop eventually, and once they were both done eating, he and Spencer went back to Brendon’s room. 

“Wait here.” Spencer said. “I’m gonna go get some books.”

He took off down the hallway and returned a moment later with books and papers. “Okay. How to read, as taught by Spencer Smith.”

Brendon held up five fingers. Spencer squinted at him “Huh?”

Brendon pointed at Spencer and then held up his five fingers.

“Oh! Spencer Smith the Fifth.” Spencer said. “Right?” Brendon nodded. 

“Yeah, yeah. My name is amazing.” Spencer said ruefully. 

Brendon smiled and bumped his shoulder against Spencer’s. Spencer smiled at him again and pulled a notebook open. 

“Okay.” Spencer said. “I’m going to write the alphabet in capital letters and lowercase. There’s twenty six letters in english. Each one makes a different sound. Each letter has a capital version and a lowercase version. With me so far?” 

Brendon nodded. He leaned forward and watched Spencer write down various symbols across the paper. “So, you’ll have to memorize what letters make what sounds, and english is weird and half the time doesn’t make sense, but oh well. That’s what it is. I can show you how to write your name, though, first of all.” 

He hesitated for a moment. “Um. There’s actually a couple different ways to spell Brendon. I guess if you’ve never written your name before then you won’t know which one to use. Here.” 

He wrote out Brendon’s name in a way that looked mostly the same to Brendon, except the second to last squiggle had an extra squiggle on it in one of them, or a little bit less of a squiggle, or just a normal circle. Brendon pointed at the one with a normal circle when Spencer asked which one he liked best. 

“Brendon with an ‘O’, then?” Spencer asked. “Awesome.” He scratched out the other versions and handed the paper to Brendon. Brendon took the quill, and then Spencer reached out and adjusted the way he was holding it. “Okay? Now you try.” 

Brendon tried to copy the way Spencer had written it, but his hands weren’t used to the movements and it came out much messier. He pouted at it and Spencer laughed at him and rubbed his back a little. 

“Believe me, my first attempts were just as bad. Keep practicing, okay?”

Brendon leaned into his hand and smiled up at him. “I have to go do princely shit now.” Spencer sighed. “The damn Rosses are coming next week. But we can keep working on this, okay?” 

Brendon nodded, and wondered yet again who the Rosses were and why Spencer seemed to hate them. 

The next week passed by pretty quickly, and even though Spencer was busy a lot of the time, the time that Brendon did get to spend with him was nice. Spencer was amazing, clever and witty and kind and patient. Brendon was pretty sure he was falling in love, and although he was hesitant to think about it, he thought maybe, just maybe, Spencer felt the same way. 

On one of the days, when Spencer found Brendon, he was in a terrible mood. 

“I had to do all this princely shit today.” He informed Brendon, flopping backwards on the bed. “They made me make decisions.” 

Brendon looked at him curiously, hoping he would finally elaborate on the whole complicated aspect of him being a crown prince. 

“It’s like. I don’t even want to be king, okay? I would honestly rather do anything else, like it’s not that I don’t care about the issues, but I don’t know how to understand everything, and I just. Don’t want to be forced into that. But Crystal, my little sister. When we were going through lessons together, as kids, they would always make me make decisions in these pretend scenarios, and Crystal would just whisper the answers to me. She actually wants to be queen. I keep trying to think of ways to like, fake my death so that they can let her be in charge of this shit instead of me.”

Brendon smiled a little. He had met Crystal and Jackie at mealtimes a few times, and honestly, it seemed like Crystal was more suited for ruling over a kingdom. She had this natural air of royalty around her, where Spencer just didn’t. It wasn’t like it was a bad thing. Brendon just figured that Spencer was meant for other things.

At the end of the week, Spencer came running into Brendon’s room first thing in the morning, hair all a mess and looking thoroughly freaked out. Brendon sat up in bed and blinked at him. 

“Brendon! The Rosses are here!” He said.

Brendon gave him his best confused face and shrugged at him. 

“Oh.” Spencer said. “Wait, did I really not explain this to you?”

Brendon rolled his eyes and nodded. 

“Oh.” Spencer said. “Oops.”

Brendon raised an eyebrow and made a hand motion to say ‘continue’.

“Okay, so George Ryan Ross is like, the bane of my existence, right, because he’s a prince and I’m a prince and if we got married it would be like, really really good for the economy or something, and so his dad and my mom keep shoving the idea of marrying each other down our throats. But.” Spencer sighed, shoved his hair out of his face and sat down on Brendon’s bed. “We’re best friends, right, we have been since we were like five and our parents started forcing us to spend the summers together. But he always acts like he hates my guts around everyone else, he refuses to even hint to our parents that we don’t hate each other.”

Spencer buried his face in his hands. “And.” 

Brendon scooted a little bit closer to Spencer, looking at him curiously. “And I’ve kind of been in love with him for years and I do want to marry him so bad but not if he doesn’t want to and I don’t think he wants to and our parents want us to marry this year and it’s just a mess.” 

And just like that Brendon went cold all over. Spencer was in love. With someone else. And they were getting married this year. 

Brendon hadn’t realized he had been moving until he went perfectly still. His feet stopped tapping and he just sat there for a minute. Spencer looked up at him, concerned. 

“Brendon?” He asked. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

Brendon forced a smile and shook his head. He didn’t know how to deal with this, but he would, somehow. He would figure it out. 

“Anyway.” Spencer said. “We should probably head down to the docks and greet them.

Brendon nodded and pointed to himself, making a quizzical look. 

“Yeah, you should come too.” Spencer said. “Watch, Ryan and I always try to pretend we hate each other’s guts whenever we’re in front of our parents, it’s hilarious. And it’ll be nice to have someone else in on the joke. And you’ll like Ryan, he’s awesome.

They went outside the castle and someone brought Spencer his horse. Spencer climbed on and then pulled Brendon up behind him, and they followed the rest of the procession or whatever through the streets to the docks.

At the docks, a beautiful ship just as fancy as the one that Brendon had watched sink was waiting. Brendon stood with Spencer and watched as people started to disembark from it. When a tall, mean looking man exited, Spencer nodded at him.

“That’s Ryan’s father.” He said in a low tone to Brendon. 

A moment later a boy followed, and Brendon knew without needing Spencer to tell him that that must be Ryan. He was tall, and incredibly skinny. He was wearing tight clothes and some sort of paint all over his face. 

He was beautiful. 

Brendon was- not surprised, exactly, but a little startled by just how pretty the boy was. He walked towards them, and Spencer slid from the horse to stand in front of the newcomers, flanked by his family. Brendon clung to the reins of the horse and prayed it didn’t do something awful, like throw him off the pier.

“Hello, Prince Spencer.” Ryan said, chin up and voice cold. 

“Hello, Prince Ryan.” Spencer responded, sneering just a little. Both of their parents looked long suffering, and Brendon hid his smile behind his hand. Spencer was right, this was hilarious. He wondered if Spencer was actually fooling anyone. He didn’t know Ryan, but Spencer was usually so nice. Brendon didn’t know how anyone could believe that he hated Ryan that much. 

They went home, a long ride of chilled silences and glares, and also hidden smiles, if you knew how to look for them. 

Once they got home, Spencer and Ryan both disappeared for a while, and Brendon went back up to his room and practiced his letters. That evening, as he was tryign to muddle his way through one of the books Spencer had brought him and getting nowhere, there was a knock on his door.

He figured it was Spencer and whistled as best he could- their signal for ‘come in’ since Brendon couldn’t talk and didn’t like walking. He wasn’t very good at whistling, as it wasn’t something he’d learned until leaving the sea, but he was slowly getting better. He figured with practice he could do more distinct notes and they could make more complicated signals. 

The door opened and Spencer came just a little bit into the room. “Hey, Brendon, I brought Ryan, can he come in and meet you?”

Brendon shoved his book away and nodded, sitting cross legged on the bed. 

Ryan came a little bit into the room and smiled tentatively at Brendon. “Hey.” 

Brendon waved cheerfully. 

“This is Brendon.” Spencer said. “He can’t talk. I found him on the beach one morning, when I was out riding with Zack.”

“Why were you out riding with Zack?” Ryan asked. “You hate riding.”

“It was because of when we got attacked by pirates.” Spencer said. “Someone rescued me. I want to find them.”

Brendon very valiantly resisted rolling his eyes. He had decided that although he and Spencer were getting to the point where they could almost have conversations through hand gestures and facial expressions, he wasn’t going to try to explain to Spencer that he had been the one to rescue him. But it was still ridiculous to sit here and listen to Spencer talk about the person who had rescued him.

“Right.” Ryan said. He exchanged a glance with Brendon as if to ask ‘Do you know what he’s talking about?’ and it made Brendon happy.

“So anyway, this is Brendon.” Spencer said. “Brendon, this is Ryan.”

Brendon nodded. They ended up sitting there together well into the night, Spencer and Ryan telling Brendon stories of the crazy things they got into as kids. Sad as it made Brendon, he could definitely see them getting married. They spoke at the same time, and finished each other’s sentences, and started laughing just at a glance. 

Time kept passing, and Brendon ended up spending some time with Ryan whenever Spencer was doing his princely shit. Ryan said he got out of it since he was a guest here, and guests didn’t do work. 

There was even one day that Ryan told Brendon all of the stories from his family, the myths about them being descended from the fae folk. Brendon laughed his ass off, imagining Ryan with little fairy wings, but Ryan seemed serious.

When Ryan realized Brendon still didn’t know how to read or write completely, Brendon was afraid Ryan would make fun of him. From the day or two of knowing Ryan, he already knew just how much Ryan loved words. And words were a world Brendon couldn’t really access at the moment.

But instead, Ryan just offered to help teach Brendon while Spencer was busy. He informed Brendon that he needed to practice more, and before long he would be better at writing than Spencer, since Spencer didn’t like to write. Spencer’s offended face at that had made Brendon laugh his silent laugh until tears ran down his face.

So time passed, with Brendon getting to know Ryan and Spencer more and more, and seeing how obvious their love for each other was, even if it was platonic on Ryan’s side, although Brendon kind of doubted that it was. 

He also found himself falling in love. With both of them, which. What a mess. He kept trying to tell himself that what he felt for Ryan was just a crush, and that it was really Spencer he was in love with, and that his crush would go away eventually, but it was kind of hard to convince himself. Especially when Ryan laughed, low and quiet, or when he smiled at Brendon and hit him with a pillow when Brendon wrote to him that his favorite poet was kind of pretentious.

\-------------------------------

On the night of the fullest moon, as Brendon sat on the beach, he saw, a ways from the shore, several heads break the surface. He crawled forward, close to the water, but not quite touching it. It was indeed his siblings. They sang a sad, mournful song. Brendon realized with a start that they were mourning him. One month since he had vanished from home without telling him. 

He waved his arms until they saw him, and then waited for them to swim to him. Kara led the way, coming closer to the shore than the others, almost close enough for Brendon to reach out and touch her. 

“Brendon.” She cried, reaching out. “What have you done?” 

Brendon smiled sadly at her, waving at his throat. 

 

Kara’s eyes widened. “You can’t speak.” 

Brendon nodded. 

“Was it the sea witch?” She asked. 

Brendon nodded again, hiding his smile as he thought how Gerard was the furthest thing from the ‘fabled sea witch’ one could get. 

“Oh, Brendon.” Kara looked so miserable. He shook his head. 

“It’s okay.” He mouthed. 

“It’s not okay. Brendon.” She seemed so upset, and Brendon suddenly remembered why he’d had to leave without saying goodbye. None of his family understood. Not even Kara. Maybe especially not Kara. 

He sat back on his heels, trying to figure out what he could possible mime out to make this better. 

He ended up just kind of shrugging at his siblings. They sat there for a long while in silence, just being near to each other, but when Brendon deemed it was getting close to morning, he stood up for the endless-seeming trek back to the castle. 

With no one to see but his siblings, he let himself limp while he walked, he heard Kara cry out, calling him to come back, but he knew he couldn’t. 

The morning after that was when everything started to change. 

What happened first, was that Ryan fell off his horse when he and Spencer were out riding. He wasn’t hurt, all that had happened was the horse got spooked by a crazy cat and threw Ryan into the bushes. 

The thing was, though, that the bushes were right next to a really sheer, rocky, hill. If Ryan had been thrown a little to the right, well. He would have been hurt really badly. 

Brendon wasn’t there to see it happen, but Spencer was, and when they got back to the castle, Spencer was pale as a sheet. He kind of disappeared for a while, and poor Ryan, all scratched up from the evil bushes, looked kind of confused and hurt. 

Brendon cursed both of their stupidity and set off on his aching feet through the castle to find him. 

When he found Spencer, curled up in a ball in the library, he eased himself down next to him just close enough for their shoulders to touch and just sat there. After a moment, Spencer let out a long breath and slumped, tilting his head forward to rest on his knees. 

“He could have died.” Spencer said. 

Brendon reached out to get his attention, to get Spencer to look at him so he could shake his head and remind Spencer that Ryan was fine, but he hesitated. Maybe it would be better to just let Spencer talk. 

“I’m. He. He’s everything to me, and he could have died today, because of some fucking cat. And I would have never told him.” 

Now Brendon did reach out, getting Spencer’s attention, and then making their agreed sign for “He” and then touching his head. ‘He knows.’

“Like, yeah, he does, but not all of it.” Spencer said. “I don’t know. I’m just so freaked out. He could have fucking died.”

Brendon twisted his mouth a little bit. He made the sign for talking, and then did “He” again.

“Tell him?” Spencer asked. He sat back a little, resting his head against the shelf and staring into space. “I don’t know.”

Brendon signed “He” again, and then stopped, realizing he didn’t have enough signs for what he wanted to say. 

Spencer noticed his frustration right away and got up to get a pad of paper and a quill. Spencer was good like that. 

Brendon wrote down “He is hurt you left” and handed the pad over.

Spencer read it a few times, looking confused. “I didn’t leave.” 

Brendon made a face at Spencer. 

“Oh.” Spencer said. “I guess I did. What should I do?”

Brendon signed ‘Tell him’ again, and then stood, holding out a hand to pull Spencer up. 

“No choice, huh?” Spencer asked, taking the hand. “Okay.”

Before they left the library, though, Spencer pulled Brendon into a tight hug. “Brendon. Thank you. I love you, okay?”

Brendon hugged him tightly, trying to convey his feelings through the hug. He was pretty sure he succeeded, especially when Spencer made a choking noise at him and laughed.

Spencer headed out of the library and back towards where Ryan was, and Brendon followed more slowly. He was trying to practice walking without limping, but it was hard. 

Because he was following so slowly, he didn’t get to the room where Ryan was right away. By the time he did get there, it looked like Spencer was already talking. He sat close to Ryan, speaking quickly and looking at Ryan intently.

Brendon stood in the doorway and watched them talk. He realized right away that somehow it was not going the way he had expected it to. Ryan’s jaw was tight and he looked almost angry, which. How off was that?

Spencer was still talking, and Brendon couldn’t hear what he was saying, but his face looked sincere and hopeful, although he was too embarassed to look directly at Ryan. 

When he finished talking and finally looked Ryan in the eyes, his face fell. Ryan stood up, quickly and suddenly, and Spencer stood up with him. 

“Ryan?” He asked, and he sounded terrified, and Brendon willed Ryan not to break his heart.

Apparently it didn’t work.

Ryan whirled around and punched Spencer hard in the face. Spencer stumbled backwards right away and fell onto the bed, just staring at Ryan in surprise. 

Ryan stared back, just for a moment, looking horribly upset, and then turned and nearly ran out of the room. Brendon stumbled back a step to let him past, completely dumbfounded. 

\--------------------

Days passed, and neither Spencer nor Ryan were speaking to the other. Spencer was heartbroken. He seemed to believe that Ryan actually didn’t like him back, and that because he had tried to confess to Ryan, that Ryan hated him now. 

Brendon was a little disbelieving. 

He knew what he had seen, and he had seen Ryan looking at Spencer exactly the same way Spencer had looked at Ryan. And again, he didn’t know why he was doing this, but he was determined to fix it.

So after a couple of days of watching Spencer wallow in his misery, Brendon went to confront Ryan.

He found him in the stable, sitting alone with a pad of paper and a quill. When Brendon pushed the heavy stable door open and entered, he looked up. 

Ryan seemed to sense that Brendon had something to say, so he ripped off the top couple pages of the pad, the pages covered in his poetry, and tucked them away in a pocket before offering Brendon the pad.

Brendon took it and deliberated for a long while before deciding he might as well go all out. 

He wrote down “Why did you hit Spencer?” and handed the pad to Ryan. Ryan read it a couple times and his face twisted a little. He looked angry, but Brendon didn’t think it was directed at him. 

“He just.” Ryan punched the straw. “He’s a fucking liar and he’s playing with my feelings, and he cares more about the stupid kingdom than me. I thought he was better than our parents, okay. I thought he understood.”

Brendon was still confused, but he felt like he was on the verge of understanding something very important. He took the writing pad and slowly wrote out ‘explan more’

“Explain has an i in it.” Ryan told him, taking the pad and fixing it. “It’s like. I’ve had this stupid fucking crush on him forever, and I hate it because it’s just what our parents wanted. And he knows about the crush, of course he does, so when he decides that us getting married would be good for the kingdom, just like our parents want, he thinks he can just. Tell me he’s in love with me and I’ll fall into his arms? I’m not that stupid.”

It all clicked, and Brendon took a deep breath. A small, very small, and slightly evil part of him told him to just walk away now. If Ryan and Spencer stayed messed up, he still had a chance to win Spencer’s heart. But the rest of him dismissed that idea easily. He took the pad back and deliberated for a while on what to write. 

‘Why do you think he’s lieing?’ He asked finally, scrunching up his nose and writing ‘lying’ like three different ways before handing it to Ryan and hoping he understood.

“Lying? It’s with a y.” Ryan said. “And of course he is. Because then he thinks we can get married and help the kingdom. Why else would he tell me he’s in love with me?”

Brendon just stared at Ryan for a minute, before flopping backwards dramatically, off of the hay bale and onto the floor. 

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked, jumping up to look down at him.

Brendon rolled to his feet and waved his arms at Ryan, probably freaking him out but too exasperated to sit down and write out what he was feeling. 

“What the hell? Brendon. What?!” Ryan finally snapped after almost a minute of Brendon just waving his arms at him. 

Brendon snatched up the pad and wrote as quickly as he could, in big capital letters like Spencer had showed him. “MORON” 

“Gee, thanks.” Ryan snapped. “Wait. What do you mean?”

Brendon wanted to write out ‘Spencer isn’t a jerk. He is in love with you thats why he told you he’s in love with you’ but that was too long. Instead he took the pad and wrote Spencer in big letters, and then pointed at it. He curled his fingers into the heart shape and then pointed repeatedly with both hands at Ryan. 

“Wha- how do you know?” Ryan demanded. 

Brendon rolled his eyes and mimed pulling his hair out. He was about to start waving his arms at Ryan again when Ryan said “Wait.” 

“Did he tell you? Like he’s actually in love with me? He’s not doing it for our parents?”

Brendon nodded slowly, trying to convey Ryan’s stupidity to him. 

“Oh.” Instead of running off to marry his one true love, Ryan sat down slowly on the hay bale and got really quiet. 

Brendon sighed, sitting down across from him and picking up the pad again. ‘Spencer doesn’t even want to be king.’ He wrote. 

Ryan read it. “Well, yeah, I know that.” He said. “Oh. So why would he marry me for the kingdom if he doesn’t want anything to do with it. Oh.” 

Brendon smiled a little. Ryan met his eyes. “Okay. You win. So Spencer’s in love with me. But what about you?” 

Brendon felt the smile drop off his face. He gaped at Ryan. There was no way that Ryan had noticed Brendon’s raging crush on him, was there? Maybe Brendon wasn’t a subtle person, but he was pretty sure he had hid that pretty well. 

“I know you’re in love with Spencer too.” Ryan said.

Oh. That one, Brendon maybe hadn’t hid as well. And now Ryan, was, what. Saying he wouldn’t marry Spencer because Brendon was in love with him? Well. Shit. Brendon was trying to be a good person here.

He shrugged awkwardly, not knowing what he could say to make Ryan understand that yes, he loved Spencer, but clearly Spencer loved Ryan, not Brendon, and Brendon was willing to sacrifice everything for Spencer’s happiness.

When Brendon met Ryan’s eyes again, Ryan looked hurt and scared, but also grateful. “Are you. Brendon.” He said. “I can’t.” 

Now Brendon rolled his eyes again. This he could deal with. He waved his arms at Ryan again, and maybe he was a lot more subdued this time, but they could both pretend not to notice. Standing up, he shoved Ryan out of the stables and back toward the castle. Ryan laughed at him, and Brendon didn’t point out that it didn’t sound very happy. 

Ryan finally started walking, but turned around after just a step, and looked back at Brendon. “Are you-” 

Brendon glared at him. 

“Okay.” He said, and this time kept walking. 

Once he was gone, Brendon was a lot less sure what to do with himself. He retrieved the pad from the stable and started walking back towards the castle. Halfway there, he stopped to rest his feet, and found himself sitting on a big rock. 

He ended up staying there for longer than he meant to, because he thought if he had to face the new, happy couple right away he might have a panic attack. 

He was happy for them, really. Well, sort of. At least, he was happy enough for them that he didn’t regret what he had done.

It was just, kind of shitty. These two guys, one he was completely gone for and one who he was crushing harder and harder on every day. And then it turns out they’re in love with each other, they’re going to marry each other, their kingdoms get lower taxes, everyone gets their happy ending. 

Except for Brendon.

He didn’t know what to do. 

That night, he ended up heading down to the shore again. He started throwing rocks into the water, half out of boredom and half because he wanted the fish to get disgruntled enough that Kara would come see what was going on and then he could talk to her.

Maybe Brendon was feeling a little immature. 

When Kara’s head broke the surface, he thought for a split second that it had actually worked. But then he saw her face and realized that something else entirely was going on. 

“Brendon.” She said softly.

Brendon stared at her. Her long, flowing hair was gone, cut short and close to her head. He crawled close to the water as he had before and stared at her. 

“I went to the sea witch.” She said. “The sea, um. Gerard.”

Brendon nodded slowly. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what the hell Kara was thinking. 

“I talked to him, Brendon, and there’s a way for you to come home.” 

Brendon’s eyes widened, and he gestured frantically for Kara to continue. She raised her arms out of the sea and pulled herself up the beach a little, getting closer to Brendon. She held something out to him, and he reached out and took it. 

It was a knife. 

Brendon nearly dropped it in the sand. He looked at Kara, panicked, begging with his eyes for her to explain. 

“If the prince marries another, then you can plunge that knife through his heart, and then when you enter the water, instead of dieing, you’ll become merfolk again. You can come home, Brendon.” She said. 

Brendon didn’t move, didn’t respond. He wasn’t sure if it was from horror, or shock, or fear?

“Will you do it, Brendon?” Kara asked. “Promise me you’ll do it. We miss you, so much.”

Brendon didn’t know what to say, what to do. He tried hard not to think of Spencer’s bright smile, his tight hug. Brendon looked up at Kara. 

He attempted a smile, and nodded at her. She breathed out in what looked like relief. 

“Thank you. Brendon, please hurry back to us. We need you.” She said. 

Brendon nodded again and stood up. The wind blew hard on the cool summer night, and he swayed a little. Kara said goodbye, and he must have nodded or waved or responded in some way, because she sank back into the dark, black water.

Brendon limped his way back to the castle. His mind was whirling with fear and confusion, and instead of thinking through it logically, he ended up hyper focused on the feel of the wind in his dry hair, the damp but not wet dew of the grass, the chill of the night. When he got back to the castle, he tucked the knife into his clothing, deciding to hide it in his room. Even if he did end up using it, he couldn’t do anything until after Ryan and Spencer’s wedding, so there was no point trying to come to a decision. 

The next morning was a clear summer day, and chillier than most days had been. By noon, the royal proclamation had been sent out; there was to be a wedding. Brendon found himself avoiding Ryan and Spencer for most of the day. It was easier than he had expected. Their parents had been planning for this moment for almost two decades, and it was like the moment Ryan and Spencer stopped fighting them, they were to be married the next day.

Well, not literally the next day. Literally the next week, though.

Brendon spent the entire week in an anxious haze, feeling on edge and distractible the entire time. He spent a lot of time dodging Spencer when his friend tried to talk to him. He wondered, more than a little, if Ryan had said anything about Brendon being in love with Spencer to Spencer. 

When the day of the wedding finally arrived, Brendon got dressed in the nice suit someone had brought him. He could avoid Spencer a lot, but he wasn’t about to ditch the wedding. That was just mean. 

He realized, when he got down to the courtyard of the castle, that maybe he had underestimated how much this would hurt.

Zack came and found him and brought him to the horses that they would ride to the shore. Ryan and Spencer were getting married, not on the beach, but on a cliff overlooking the sea. The entire procession moved their way out there, people going every which direction and moving the decorations here and there and then back here. 

The wedding was incredibly elaborate. Brendon wasn’t surprised, these were two princes, but he was a little confused by just how many important people were there. Like, yes, some of them made sense, but really? The royal treasurer of the neighboring kingdom? The kingdom that wasn’t even involved in this marriage? Why was he there? Unless he was friends with someone, but Brendon didn’t think that was it.

The wedding began just after noon, and Brendon watched with a sick sort of feeling in his stomach. When Spencer was standing at the altar, and Ryan was walking down the aisle, he considered throwing himself into the sea right there and then. It would certainly make a statement. 

He didn’t want to become sea foam, though, even after everything. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to kill Spencer to avoid it, but he wasn’t about to just throw himself off the cliff.

Brendon and Ryan said their vows, and then Brendon knew he had lost Spencer for the second time. The first time had been when he had left him on the shore and gone home. He had never thought then, that he would get a chance to see Spencer again, to get to know him, to fall in love with him. 

When Brendon had lost Spencer the first time, he hadn’t thought he would get him back. He hadn’t thought he would lose him again. It hurt so much worse the second time. 

The wedding ended, and everyone danced and ate food and was generally very happy. Brendon practiced faking bright smiles. When Spencer came and asked, almost shyly, if Brendon would dance with him, Brendon nodded. 

His feet hurt like hell with every step of the slow waltz, but Brendon ignored it. His heart hurt a lot more as he looked up at Spencer, who was practically glowing with happiness. 

They finished the dance, and Spencer looked like he was going to say something, but Brendon waved him away, sitting down and bending forward to rub at his ankles. 

Spencer disappeared, and a moment later Ryan was crouching in front of him, legs looking longer than ever in his pinstripe pants. 

“Care for a dance, Brendon?” He asked, and although his tone was light, there was something else behind it. 

Brendon hesitated for a moment. He actually was in a lot of pain. But he figured if he could dance for Spencer, he could dance for Ryan as well. They danced for one song, and then Brendon figured it was late enough he could leave without being rude. 

He gently pushed Ryan towards his husband and then went to find Zack and ask to be sent back to the castle. 

When he got back, there were still festivities going on at the castle. All of the servants and other castle workers were celebrating there. Brendon smiled tiredly at them and headed for his room. As he was getting ready for bed, he found the knife hidden in a dresser drawer. An awful chill ran down his spine. He wasn’t ready, he couldn’t do this.

Not tonight, he thought. They were still out partying anyway, they wouldn’t be back until late. He would do it tomorrow. 

It still took him a long time to fall asleep that night. 

The next day, Brendon stayed in his room for most of the day. Spencer and Ryan were busy accepting congratulations from every single institution adjacent to their kingdom, so he didn’t even have to try to avoid them, but he didn’t feel like trying to move throughout the castle on his pained legs. 

He spent the entire day trying his best not to think about what he planned to do that night. He didn’t look at the knife, didn’t touch it. Pretended it didn’t exist. It was pretty hard.

Just before sundown, there was a knock on his door. He went over and opened it a crack, and saw Spencer’s surprised face on the other side. It wasn’t until he saw Spencer that he remembered that he usually whistled. 

“Um.” Spencer seemed to take a moment to rally himself. “Brendon, can I talk to you?” 

Oh, no. Brendon was not prepared for this. No way. 

He shook his head slowly, and then opened the door enough to sign ‘I’m tired. Tomorrow.’ and ending it with a quizzical look.

Spencer nodded, although he looked a little sick. “Okay. Tomorrow is fine.” He said. “Um. Have a good night.” 

Brendon nodded and shut the door tight. He stood there, forehead pressed against it for a long time.

The sun finally sank, and Brendon pulled himself together and picked up the knife. He waited until the entire castle was completely silent before leaving the room. It hurt to walk, but honestly, after all this time, he thought he might miss it. Yes, it was painful, but that pain also meant that his feet were hitting solid ground instead of his tail treading water. That, specifically, he knew he would miss. 

He got to Spencer’s bedroom and slowly pushed the door open. Ryan and Spencer were in bed together, sound asleep and cuddled up, clinging tightly to each other. It was sweet. 

Brendon couldn’t bring himself to get any closer to the bed. He just stood there, knife handle gripped tightly in his sweaty palm. His breath came quick, and he wondered if he had ever actually thought he would be able to go through with. 

He shut his eyes tightly. His heart felt like it was being ripped out. He couldn’t do it, of course he couldn’t do it, but he didn’t want to die, either. 

So he turned and slowly limped out of the bedroom. He considered going back to his room, but he wasn’t going to stay, and there was nothing he needed to bring with him from there. He had his knife. That was all he needed to bring.

So he headed straight out of the castle, heading down to the shore like he had before. When he was a little ways away, still far enough his siblings wouldn’t have been able to see him, he stopped. He didn’t want to go down there, he didn’t want to risk seeing his siblings, he didn’t want to throw himself into the sea and dissolve. 

There had to be a different option. The sky was beginning to be streaked with red, and Brendon looked east, along the shore. He considered just, walking away. Heading away from the sea and seeing what else the world held. 

He wasn’t seriously considering it at first, but the more he thought about it, the better of an idea it seemed. 

Brendon just stood there as the sky got lighter around him. He thought it through a little and the decision was an easy one. He carefully tucked his knife into his belt, and started walking. He didn’t know where he was going. All he knew was it was away from here, and that he wasn’t going back. Ever. He would miss his family, but this was his decision.

He headed inland, and managed to walk for several hours before his legs gave out. He managed to find an inn, and kind of collapsed against a wall. He realized once he was there that he had no money and no way to communicate, and ended up just leaving. He tried to find somewhere where he could sleep. 

He ended up in a barn, hiding in the haystacks, and only catching a few hours before he had to get up and head out. He started walking again, making it out of the major towns and onto the open road. That was an incredible feeling. 

He was out in the middle of nowhere, nothing but huge, golden fields of wheat and wide open blue skies as far as the eye could see. He walked for hours along dirt roads, and then slept at night under the stars in the grass. It was amazing. 

By the seventh day, it was a little less amazing. Summer was known as the stormy season, and it was determined to live up to that.

Still, though, once Brendon was completely soaked through, he stopped worrying about trying to stay dry. Then it was kind of fun, splashing through the puddles and the rain. It reminded him of home, just a little. It reminded him of when he first came out of the water, that day when there was a big storm.

He kept making his way inland, heading south. He found a big stick that made a nice walking stick and helped him take some of the weight off of his legs. At one point, during the long, unending rain that wasn’t so fun anymore, a horse-drawn cart stopped beside him. 

“Hey.” The man leaned out of the front. “Where are you headed?”

Brendon pointed south.

“South?” The man asked. “Towards Bellor City?”

Brendon hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t actually headed there, but he wasn’t opposed to going there as long as it meant getting away from here. 

He nodded, and the man offered him a ride. 

Brendon climbed up onto the covered cart, shivering a little as he finally got some relief from the rain. He smiled at the man and mimed writing, wondering if the man had some paper. 

The man dug around in a bag in the back and handed Brendon a crumpled sheet and a quill. It was less fine quality than the stuff that Spencer and Ryan used all the time, but Brendon didn’t mind. He leaned over his knee and started to write. 

‘I’m Brendon.’ Was the first thing he wrote. He thought for a moment, and then added, ‘Thanks for the ride’ and handed it to the man. 

The man read through it and nodded at him. “I’m Patrick. And it’s no problem at all. These long rides are so boring.” 

Brendon smiled at him, unsure of how to respond. 

Patrick leaned back in the cart a little. “Do you like music?” He asked. 

Brendon nodded quickly, looking interested. 

“Look.” Patrick said, pulling something out of a bag. It was some sort of long, straight, wooden pipe, with holes drilled into various spots along it. Brendon turned it over in his hands and looked up at the man curiously. 

He took it back and brought it up to his lips and blew into the hole at the top. It made a loud, clear note. Brendon sat up straight and stared in shock. It was like, not quite like singing, but maybe like whistling. He watched in awe as Patrick moved his fingers over the holes and played a tune.

When Patrick offered Brendon the instrument, Brendon took it, and under Patrick’s instruction, blew into it. His fingers found the holes, and he played around with it, playing different notes. When he thought he had gotten the hang of it enough, he played hesitantly through a major scale. 

Patrick made impressed noises and grinned at him. “You picked that up fast!” He said. “Did you already know how to play that?” 

He shook his head. Patrick said “Wow.” and took the instrument back. 

He played through a simple, cheerful, song, and then gave it to Brendon. Brendon did his best to replicate it. It took a few tries, but Brendon managed to play it back to him.

The long ride to Bellor City passed in this manner, with Patrick teaching Brendon to play the wind instrument, and Brendon challenging himself to pick it up as fast as he could. 

When they finally got to the city, Patrick stopped his cart not far inside the gates. Brendon figured it was time for him to get out of the way, and started to climb down. 

“Hang on!” Patrick said, catching his shirt and stopping him. “Here.” He tore off a small piece of paper and wrote an address on it in neat handwriting. “If you ever need anything. I want you to come find me, okay?” 

Brendon nodded. 

 

“And I want you to take this, too.” Patrick added, trying to hand the pipe to Brendon. 

Brendon widened his eyes and looked at Patrick in shock, shaking his head. 

“No, seriously.” Patrick said. “I have more of them. You need it. You’re a seriously good musician. Come on.”

Brendon hadn’t really considered himself a musician before then. All he could do was sing, and now he couldn’t even do that. He supposed, though, that here was his chance to learn. 

He took the pipe and the address. The address he tucked safely into an inner pocket, and the pipe he attached to his belt next to the knife. He looked Patrick in the eye and mouthed “Thank you.” As clearly as he could.

Patrick grinned at him and said “You’re welcome,” and then they both went on their ways.

Brendon wasn’t really sure what to do or where to go now. He ended up limping, leaning on his walking stick, towards the center of the city. He figured maybe he would stay here for a while. It was busy and loud, and it all kind of awed him. Back home, no matter how busy things were, it still seemed… calm. Tranquil. This place was quite the opposite. 

Brendon walked through a park and sat down on a bench to rest. He watched the wagons rushing through the streets, watched little kids run every which way around him. He shut his eyes just for a second to focus on the sounds and the smells. It was incredible. More busy than the town where Spencer’s kingdom was. He was outside of Spencer’s kingdom, now, and had passed through the neighboring kingdom as well. The city was well away from the sea, and it felt kind of sad to be so far from his home, but freeing as well. He was here, on land, without the stress of having to get Spencer to fall in love with him.

“Did you hear the news? The Smith kingdom has joined with the Ross kingdom!” 

Brendon’s eyes snapped open when he heard someone talking about what must have been Spencer and Ryan. He looked over to see some random girl excitedly telling her friends about the “beautiful prince” of the second kingdom over. 

Brendon wondered vaguely which one of them she was referring to as beautiful, and then remembered why he didn’t care. Suddenly, the busy town, so freeing a moment ago, felt stifling. He didn’t want to be here anymore.

He pulled himself up off of the bench and headed towards the streets again. He felt a tightness in his chest that had gone away when he was walking through the rain, days before. He couldn’t stop thinking about Spencer and Ryan if he heard their names every five minutes. 

So he started walking again. As the sun set, he used it to keep his sense of direction, and just kept heading south. Away from here, away from the boys he loved, away from the home that he had lost. That was all that mattered. 

And so Brendon walked. He made it to the edge of the town and got good at hitching rides. Some people were kind and well meaning, and chattered to him the entire way, gossiping about kings that he didn’t want to hear about and people he didn’t know. Others were quiet and sullen, seeming almost mean, to the point where he wondered why they had even stopped for him. He continued heading south until he stopped hearing news of ‘those two kings who had just gotten married up by the sea.’ When he had gone a couple days without hearing a single thing about them, he felt that lightness in his heart again. 

It was on the seventh day of being far enough from Spencer’s kingdom that no one knew of them that he met Jon. 

Brendon was hitching a ride with some old lady, who talked Brendon’s ear off, but was very kind. When they got to one of the towns they were meant to pass straight through, though, one of the axles on the cart broke. 

The lady was really, incredibly old, and although it hurt like hell for Brendon to walk, it looked like it hurt like hell for her to even move. So he volunteered to go find a blacksmith and get the axle replaced. 

When Brendon got to the blacksmithery, the only one in town, it was in chaos. At first Brendon thought that the place was on fire, but then he realized that it was actually just how many different things were being melted down at once. He stared in awe. It looked like a ridiculous, precariously well timed process. If even one thing went wrong, he bet the whole thing would fall apart and lots of material would be wasted. 

One thing, such as say, a boy a couple of years older than Brendon crashing into him from behind and spilling water everywhere. 

Brendon hit the ground, feet sparking with a sudden pain that made him nearly black out, and he tried to take deep breaths. When the pain faded enough he could focus on his surroundings again, he realized that he was on his hands and knees in a puddle of water. 

That sent a heavy jolt of adrenaline through him. Ever since he had left Spencer’s kingdom, he had been having god awful nightmares about drowning, or about just falling off a dock and dissolving into sea foam. Logically he knew that only sea water would cause him to dissolve, but right now he was confused and disoriented from the pain of being pushed over, and all he thought was that his nightmares were coming true. 

He didn’t realize he had been hyperventilating until someone pushed him into a more comfortable position and wrapped a thick towel around his shoulders. He rested his head on his knees and tried his best to take deep breaths. Someone was talking to him, but he wasn’t aware enough yet to comprehend whatever they were saying. 

Brendon shut his eyes tight and focused on taking deep breaths until he got himself under control enough to be aware of his surroundings. When he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw the boy who had crashed into him kneeling in front of him, eyes wide and worried and clothes soaking wet. 

“Are you alright?” He asked. He spoke quietly and didn’t make any sudden movements, like he was afraid Brendon would fall apart. 

Brendon nodded slowly. He lifted his head and looked around the room, realizing that the rush had slowed down to a crawl. 

“I’m sorry.” The boy said. “We weren’t expecting anyone in the shop today, so I was hurrying and not paying attention to where I was going.”

Brendon nodded and offered up a tired little smile. He groped around on the floor for his pad of paper, but found it was waterlogged all the way through. He looked up at the boy unsurely and waved the pad.

“Do you need paper?” THe boy asked. “I can get some, hang on a second.” He jumped up and rifled through the shop. He came back with paper and quill, and Brendon balanced it on his knee and started writing.

“I’m Brendon.” Was the first thing he wrote. He was getting good at writing his name. “I need a cart fixed.”

He considered writing that it was the axle, but he wasn’t sure how to spell axle, and he was still a little afraid of being made fun of for not knowing how to write properly. 

The boy read the paper and nodded. “I’m Jon. I can take care of it. Can I see the cart?”

Brendon nodded. Jon stood up and held out a hand to help Brendon up, and Brendon led him back to where the cart and the old lady were. Brendon watched Jon drop onto the ground and roll underneath the cart to get a good look at the axle. 

When he came out, he made a face at them. “We can replace the part, easy, it’s just going to take a few days to make it. Do you have somewhere to stay?” 

The old lady nodded. “I have family in town, but they only have room for one person in their house.”

Jon looked at Brendon, who just shrugged. “If you need, you can come stay with us.” Jon said. “We have room.” 

Brendon nodded, smiling gratefully. 

Jon helped the old lady unload her stuff, and he and Brendon carried everything under her direction to her niece’s house. They went inside just long enough to put everything down, and then Jon made small talk while Brendon went outside and sat on the porch, trying to let the pain in his legs ebb a little.

He didn’t notice Jon follow him out until Jon sat down on the porch next to him. Brendon sat up a little and looked over. 

Jon was watching him, looking concerned. “Are you in pain?” He asked. Brendon nodded. 

Jon looked a little guilty. “Is it because I ran into you today?” 

Brendon stared at him for a moment, and then realized that Jon thought he had hurt Brendon somehow, and quickly shook his head. 

“Why does it hurt?” Jon asked. “Is there something I can do for it?”

Brendon shook his head again. Jon looked for a moment like he was going to press the issue, but he didn’t. 

“We should get back to the smithery.” He said, standing up. “It’ll be dark soon, and nothing on your grandma, but this part of town…” He trailed off. Brendon gave a little bit of his silent laugh and stood up. 

He shook his head, though. Jon asked “What?” and he pointed at the house where the old lady was staying, and then at himself and shook his head again. 

“What. Not your grandma?” Jon asked. “Then how do you know her?” 

Brendon nodded at the cart and pointed south. 

“What, like she just found you and was taking you where you needed to go?” Jon asked. 

Brendon nodded. 

“Oh.” Jon said. “Well.”

They started heading down the street, and Jon noticed that Brendon was limping. “Are you sure you’re all right?” He asked. “I could carry you.” 

Brendon was about to turn him down, but he stepped into a bit of a dip on the uneven street and pain shot up his feet and all the way into his hips. He stopped walking, and gave Jon a weary smile.

“Yeah?” Jon asked. He knelt in front of Brendon so that Brendon could climb onto his back and hang on. 

As Jon carried Brendon back towards the blacksmithery, he started to tell Brendon about his life. He told him about his best friend, Tom, and all of Tom’s weird ass friends. He informed Brendon, perfectly serious, that he was convinced they were all sorcerers or something. Practicing magicians. He said they traveled the lands, doing who knows what, and only stopped home, in town, once in a while. 

Brendon knew for a fact that magic did exist, but he wasn’t completely sure that just because Tom’s friends were weird they were necessarily magic. He supposed they could be, but privately thought it was a little more likely that they were just. Strange.

They got back to the smithery and Jon showed Brendon where he could stay, and then headed back downstairs to help the blacksmith clean up. Jon had told Brendon that he was apprenticed here, that his parents wanted him to be a blacksmith but he wanted to be a musician. 

Brendon found himself alone in the room, with not much to do but listen to the clanging below from the blacksmith and Jon cleaning up the day’s messes. He laid down in bed, not really trying to fall asleep yet, just thinking things over. 

He wondered if he was yet far enough from the shore that he could stop moving. He enjoyed it, liked meeting new people and seeing new places, but what was the point of meeting new people if you just lost them after a couple of days?

He wondered if maybe it was time to stop running. He did want to, eventually. He just wasn’t sure where the right place to do it was. But maybe it was here. 

Jon was really nice, and Brendon wanted to talk to him about music. He wanted to meet his crazy friends, he wanted to explore the town. There was a nice forest next to the town, he had seen it on the way there, and he kind of wanted to explore that, too. He wanted to find a river, and put a message in it, because all rivers go back to the sea, and if his message made it to the sea someone would make sure it got back to his family. 

Brendon was surprised to find that there were a lot of things he wanted, and following the old lady on her way south wasn’t very high on the list. 

He slept well that night, in a bed for the first time in weeks. He woke up the next morning to bright light streaming through the windows as the sounds of the town filtered in. 

He dragged himself out of bed and limped to the top of the stairs, stopping there and just looking down into the main shop of the blacksmith. Jon was already down there, dancing in every which direction as he helped the master blacksmith out. Brendon slowly sat down on the top step and watched Jon work. 

It was really hot in the blacksmithery, and Jon wasn’t wearing a shirt. Brendon totally supported that. He tried not to drool as Jon picked up a heavy bucket of water, his back muscles flexing and his hair slicked down with sweat. 

It took a while for Jon to notice that Brendon was watching him, but when he did he grinned up at Brendon, looking self conscious. 

Brendon stood up and slowly made his way down the stairs, stumbling when he made it to the bottom. Jon reached out and steadied him. “You want some breakfast?” He asked. 

Brendon nodded, and Jon called to the blacksmith that he was going to take a break to make food, before leading Brendon into a kitchen area. 

Brendon sat down at the table, leaning back and watching as Jon started cooking. 

“So.” Jon began. “We mostly just talked about me last night. Or I just talked about me. But what’s your story?”

Brendon mimed writing, and Jon got him some paper and a quill again. Brendon tapped the quill against his cheek for a moment, trying to figure out what to write. 

Finally, he put the quill to the paper and started telling Jon his story. 

He wrote that he had been cursed, and that was why he couldn’t talk and why it hurt to walk. He wrote that when he had been cursed, he had left home. He wrote that he had fallen in love, but the person he loved, who also had the power to break the curse, married another. He wrote that he had left, then, and headed south until he got far enough from his lover’s home that he never had to hear the name of the king. He neglected to mention that his lover was the king, or that his old home had been deep in the ocean. 

When he had summed up his story as best he could with his limited writing skills, he handed to paper to Jon. Jon put two bowls of porridge on the table and sat down, reading through it. 

“You were cursed?” He asked, sounding interested. “Do you know if there’s a way to break it?”

Brendon shook his head. 

“Huh.” Jon said. He shoved a spoonful of food into his mouth, skimming the paper again. “So you can’t talk.” He said when he had swallowed. “But you can write.” Brendon nodded. He reached out, and Jon handed the paper back to him. Brendon added a little bit about the sign language he and Spencer had started coming up with. 

“Oh, okay.” Jon said, reading the latest addition. “Can you teach me that?” He asked. Brendon nodded again. 

The next few days passed quicker than any time Brendon could remember, except for maybe that first week with Spencer. Brendon spent his time perched on a table in the hot smithery, watching Jon and the master work and signing to him when he could. They added in some whistle signals, especially for Brendon to use when he needed Jon to turn around when Jon wasn’t looking at him. 

On the day that the axle was finished being made, Jon and Brendon brought it over to the old lady’s niece’s house, and Brendon sat on the ground watching Jon attach it back to the cart. When it was done, Jon stood and helped Brendon up and onto the cart. Brendon watched the lady say goodbye to her family and then join Brendon on the cart. 

Brendon held out his arms to Jon, and Jon leaned up to give him a tight hug goodbye. As Brendon buried his face in Jon’s shoulder, he got the distinct feeling that he was making a mistake. 

He drew away a little bit and frowned, trying to think through what he was doing. He could go with the lady, keep heading south until…

Until he found a place he wanted to stay. That had been the plan all along, to just keep going until he found somewhere good. But this town, with Jon in it was good, wasn’t it? 

At the very least, he preferred it to being on the road. 

He just didn’t know if he was welcome. 

He looked at Jon, hesitant to ask, and Jon seemed to read his mind. 

“Brendon.” He said. “If you wanted to stay… you’re welcome here.” 

Brendon smiled and nodded a little. Jon smiled back. 

“After all, I haven’t introduced you to Tom yet.” He said. “The dude has crazy friends, seriously.”

Brendon felt his smile get bigger, and without warning Jon, he leaned forward, dropping off of the cart and onto Jon.

Jon staggered dramatically, but caught Brendon, arms going tight around him. 

“So you’ll stay?” He asked, laughing. 

Brendon grinned, whistling a little at the pitch they had decided meant ‘yes.’

\-----------------

They saw the old lady off, and then Jon carried Brendon piggyback back to the blacksmithery again. They fell into a happy rhythm of spending time together, Brendon watching while Jon worked, and often times playing the pipe that Patrick had given him. 

At one point Jon gave Brendon his guitar to use during the day, and Brendon started trying to learn to play guitar as well. It went pretty well. 

Gradually, the days started growing shorter and the nights longer, and Brendon watched with anticipation as it started getting colder outside. Jon said that they got snow, but that it wouldn’t happen for a few months yet. Brendon was still fascinated. 

The leaves started changing color and falling off the trees, and Brendon started enduring the pain in his feet to go for long, afternoon walks in the forests, seeing all the beauty of the land. 

After a few times, Jon asked where he was going, and then offered to come with him and help him walk. Brendon accepted. With Jon helping him along, Brendon was able to go further than before, and they eventually made it to a river cutting its way through the forest. 

Brendon let go of Jon and practically ran down the hill, towards the bank when he first saw it, feet skidding everywhere. Jon chased after him, yelling and sounding concerned. Brendon stopped, just a little bit away from the water, and Jon watched him. 

“What is it?” Jon asked. 

Brendon thought for a moment. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to explain the whole thing to Jon, but on the other hand, it would be nice to be able to talk to someone else about it. He sat back on the grassy part of the bank, avoiding most of the mud and looked up at Jon. Their sign language, based off of what Brendon had made with Spencer, had become more elaborate now, and Brendon was pretty sure he could tell the entire story just with his hands. So he started.

The first thing he did was sign ‘Home’ and point at the water. Jon just looked confused. Brendon kept going, telling him the rest of the story. He told Jon how he had been a mermaid, how Gerard the sea witch had ‘cursed’ him, turning him human like he had asked, but leaving him in pain and silent. He told Jon about his siblings, and about his lover. He still didn’t mention Spencer’s name. He knew he was far enough from the kingdom that Jon wouldn’t have heard of him, but he was still overly cautious. He also didn’t mention being in love with the one Spencer ended up marrying, as well.

He told Jon about the knife Kara had gotten him, and how he was supposed to kill his lover, but hadn’t even come close to being able to. He told Jon how he had walked away the morning after the wedding. 

Jon was silent for a long time, and when Brendon finally sat still, put his hands in his lap, he moved forward and pulled Brendon into a tight hug. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.” He said. 

Brendon shook his head, trying to turn away, but Jon wouldn’t let him. “Seriously, Brendon. You’re so strong.” Jon insisted. When Brendon finally got his emotions under control enough to hug Jon back, then Jon let him go. 

“So what are you going to do?” Jon asked. 

Brendon looked at him quizzically. “About the curse?” Jon said. 

Brendon was still confused. 

“I think we should try to break it.” Jon said. Brendon felt a warm feeling start up in his chest at the ‘we’, but he was still lost. 

‘How?’ He signed. 

“I think we should talk to Tom’s friends.” Jon said. “Like I know it’s completely ridiculous, but I really think they have the potential to help us.” 

Brendon considered this, and finally nodded. It was decided. 

They sat there on the riverbed for a long while more. Brendon tossed stiff golden leaves into the water and watched them head downstream. He wondered how long they would take to reach the sea. After a while, he turned to Jon and asked what had been niggling at him the entire time. He pointed at Jon, signed ‘believe’, and then pointed at himself with a questioning look. 

Jon took a deep breath in. “About the mermaid thing? Yeah. I. Like I said. Tom is. I’ve heard weirder things, you know? I don’t really think you would lie to me.”

Brendon grinned at Jon, touched. They ended up sitting there in silence for a while longer, but when the sun dipped behind the trees and the temperature dropped significantly, they got up and headed back. 

“So.” Jon said. “Tom’s friends. I don’t mean to be pushy about this, I just-”

Brendon reached over and shoved his hand in Jon’s face, making him swerve off the path and crack up. “Okay, okay.” 

“They’re all out of town right now.” Jon continued, a little less unsurely. “I actually have no idea when they’ll be back. But I think when they do get back, we should ask them about your curse.”

Brendon chirped out another ‘yes’ whistle, and then signed a question at Jon. ‘When?”

“When do I think they’ll be back?” Jon asked. “I don’t know. Probably soon. They’ve been gone since, what, a week before you got here? They usually don’t stay away for more than two months, so that means, what, sometime next week? So soon.” He said. “Actually, they’re usually back sooner than two months. It’s been awhile since they were gone this long. I’m a little worried.”

The days continued to pass as they waited for Tom and his friends to get back. At one point, Brendon dragged Jon out to the river, writing a message on a piece of paper and putting it into a bottle to drop into the river. 

 

“Everything makes it back to the sea eventually, huh?” Jon asked. 

Brendon nodded, still holding the bottle, his hand underwater. 

“Can your family read, though?” Jon asked. “Wait, that came out bad. Like, if you didn’t start learning to read until your lover started teaching you, will your family be able to read the note?”

Brendon nodded, finally letting go of the bottle and watching it float away for a minute. ‘Someone can’ He signed. ‘The sea is big. Someone will get them the message.’

The leaves fell from the trees, and Brendon kept writing notes to his family. He and Jon practiced playing instruments, playing together almost every night. Jon grew more and more visibly antsy with every passing week that his friends didn’t return. 

The snow finally fell, and that was an amazing thing to wake up to. Brendon ran outside, racing through the snow in his bare feet, and felt a pain in his feet that was completely unlike what he usually felt. 

Snow was cold.

Jon laughed his ass off and carried Brendon back into the house, bridal style, plopping him down in front of the fire while he got to work on his daily chores. The blacksmith, who mostly ignored Brendon, was laughing at him as well. 

Brendon pouted and tried to rub feeling back into his toes. When Jon finished his chores, he came back over and cuddled Brendon to his chest, helping to warm him up. Brendon smiled, incredibly content, and stayed there for a long while. 

By the time midwinter’s night got there, though, Jon didn’t smile as much. Brendon saw the worry lines in his face, the way he walked through town every morning, checking to see if his friends had returned. When he got back, dejected, every day, Brendon rubbed his shoulders and neck, trying to ease the fear. He didn’t think it was very effective, but Jon seemed to appreciate the gesture.

Midwinter came and passed, and following it was a heavy snow that ended up locking them indoors. Jon spent a lot of the time pacing restlessly, and Brendon tried to distract him with music with only a little success. He did his best just to be there for Jon, to comfort him as much as he could. 

When the snow finally melted enough that they could get out of the house, Brendon accompanied Jon to the town to see if Tom was back yet. They walked quickly, Brendon struggling a little bit and trying to hide it. When they got to the house, Jon darted up the steps and pounded hard on the door. 

Nothing happened. 

Jon pounded on the door again, and then waited, and then tried a third time. Clearly there wasn’t anyone home. 

Jon slumped against the doorframe, the picture of defeat, in a position that reminded Brendon startlingly of the night that he had left Spencer and Ryan.

He struggled up the stairs and put an arm around Jon. Jon just slumped into his embrace. 

“Where are they?” He asked sadly. “Why aren’t they back? What if they don’t come back?” 

Brendon shook his head, rubbing at Jon’s back. He wished he could speak, just so he could say something to Jon to make things a little more okay. He didn’t know how to fix this, how to fix any of it.

More and more time passed, and Jon started throwing himself into his work with the blacksmith, spending less time with Brendon and less time on music. The snow melted and buds started to appear on the trees, and Brendon realized that summer was near. He realized that he had been here with Jon for months, that he had been away from home for almost a year. 

He thought back to the couple of months that he had spent with Spencer, and then Ryan, and he still missed them both with a fiery passion. 

On the day of the full moon, the thirteenth full moon that he had seen from the land, Brendon got Jon to come with him out to the river. 

Neither of them spoke much on the way out there, both lost in their own thoughts, but once they were there Jon seemed to shake off a fog he had had over him for a while. 

“Brendon?” He asked. “What’s the occasion?”

Brendon pointed at the moon overhead, and then signed ‘12 since I left home’. 

It only took Jon a moment to understand it. “It’s been a year?” He asked. “Wow.” He looked at Brendon, sitting on the bank with one of his glass bottles clung tightly in his hand. He let out a long breath and said “God, Brendon, I’m sorry.” 

Brendon looked up, concerned. Jon was rubbing at his face tiredly. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted, and just, just ignoring you. You just. You deserve better.”

Brendon let out a sigh and crawled over to Jon, climbing into his lap and hugging him tightly. 

‘It’s okay.’ He signed. ‘It’s okay.’

Jon hugged him back. “Okay.” He said. “So. It’s really been a year? Since you’ve been human?” 

Brendon nodded against Jon’s neck.  
“And you left on the full moon?” Jon asked. 

Brendon nodded again, not letting go of the tight hug he had Jon in.

They stayed there for a long time, Brendon sitting on Jon’s lap and holding him tightly. When the first fingers of red crawled across the horizon, Brendon climbed up, staggering a bit under his tight muscles, and carefully placed the bottle in the river. Jon stood as well, standing back a bit and watching Brendon. 

When Brendon was done, he turned back to Jon, and suddenly froze all over. Jon felt a chill run down his spine as he took in Brendon’s wide eyes and terrified stance. 

He slowly turned around as well, and saw what Brendon had seen. Jon went perfectly still as well. 

The wolf with blood staining its muzzle crept forward, lips drawn back in a snarl and fur standing all on end.

Brendon regained control of his limbs as he saw the wolf stepping towards Jon. He moved forward, trying not to move too quickly, and grabbed onto Jon’s hand, standing close behind Jon. 

Jon clung to Brendon’s hand. The wolf stepped forward again, and the sky grew a little lighter. For a moment everything stood still, and then the clouds in the sky shifted and the first rays of morning light spread across the horizon. The wolf let out a loud, awful whine and collapsed on the ground. 

Brendon let out a little gasp and pressed against Jon’s back, terrified. Jon just stared as, before their eyes, the wolf shifted, fur melting away, and turned into a man. 

Brendon felt all the air leave his lungs as they stared at the man. He lay in the mud before them, naked, with cuts all up and down his body. Brendon looked at Jon’s face, trying to see if he understood any of it. 

Jon was staring at the man as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing. Brendon whistled a questioning pitch, and then Jon moved. He let out a loud laugh that immediately turned into a sob and sank to his knees. Brendon moved forward a little, staying behind Jon as Jon crawled to the man. 

“Tom.” Jon whispered. “Tom, wake up.”

Brendon realized that Jon was crying, touching the man’s face and hair. Brendon wondered if this was really Tom. 

The man shifted a little, rolling his head to the side, but didn’t wake up. Jon tested his pulse and listened to his breathing, looking freaked out. Brendon made another little questioning whistle.

“This is Tom.” Jon said. “He’s hurt, but he’s alive. And he was a wolf a second ago.” Jon’s voice was shaky. 

Brendon watched Jon take off his shirt and gently cover Tom with it. He carefully put an arm under Tom’s knees and one around his shoulder and lifted him. 

“We have to take him home.” Jon said. Brendon nodded. 

Jon started walking, and Brendon limped along behind him. They made it back to the blacksmithery, dark and empty and cold, as the blacksmith was at home with his wife. Brendon went first up the stairs and unlocked the door, holding it open for Jon to carry Tom through. Then he went followed them into the building. 

Jon was already partway up the stairs, carrying Tom into his room and gently placing him on Jon’s bed. Brendon hesitated at the doorway, unsure if he was welcome. 

“We have to clean and bandage his wounds.” Jon said. “I wonder if his friends are back, too. I wonder what happened.” He zoned out, staring at Tom, curled up and looking small on the bed. 

Then he turned and walked out of the room. He got to Brendon, still hovering just outside of the room and stopped. “Brendon.” He said. “I’m sorry. I. This was your night, and I just.” He gestured a little helplessly, and Brendon grinned at him. 

Brendon moved forward and tugged Jon into another hug. It was as he stood there holding onto Jon, that he realized he had managed to fall in love again. He hadn’t forgotten Spencer and Ryan, far from it, but the months he had spent with Jon, stressful and tense though they had been, were some of the best in his life. 

‘Shit.’ He thought. 

He drew back from Jon, smiling up at him a little bit, and then looked over at Tom. ‘Do you want help?’ He signed. 

Jon smiled, looking exhausted. “Would you? Brendon, you’re the best. Just stay here, okay? Your feet must be killing you. I can get the supplies and stuff, and then you can help me bandage everything?”

Brendon nodded, and headed into Jon’s room, sitting slowly on the side of the bed. 

Tom stirred, just a little, and Brendon watched him. His eyes open, and he struggled in place, trying to sit up. Brendon moved closer, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Jon.” Tom gasped out. “Jonny. No. What did I do? Jon!”

His voice was raspy and quiet, and Jon wouldn’t be able to hear it from downstairs. Brendon moved so that Tom could see him, showing him his palms, trying to calm him down. 

Tom only got more agitated. “Jon? No. Please. Please, is he okay? Jonny. No, not you too. Please.” 

Brendon was getting really freaked out, and he was two seconds away from whistling for Jon, but Tom seemed ridiculously worn out, and despite his panic, he was slumping on the bed, falling back unconscious. 

Brendon stared at him, wide eyed, as he fell back on the bed, eyes slipping shut. He was still staring at Tom when Jon walked back into the room. Brendon looked up at Jon, and Jon immediately asked “What’s wrong?”

Brendon pointed at Tom, signed ‘awake. saying you.’

“What do you mean? What was he saying?” Jon asked, setting the bowl of water and first aid supplies down on the bedside table. 

Brendon signed again, the sign they had agreed on as Jon’s name several times, the words no, please, and then confusion.’

Jon looked worried. “He fell back asleep, then?” Brendon nodded. 

“I don’t know what to do.” Jon said. “I guess we should just take care of him until he wakes up.”

Brendon nodded. He helped Jon to clean and bandage all of Tom’s injuries, and then, after he yawned for the tenth time, Jon told him to go get some sleep. 

Brendon slept for several hours, after being up all night, and when he woke up, Jon was still by Tom’s bedside. It looked like he had slept at least a little, and Brendon could hear the blacksmith working downstairs, so he assumed Jon had talked to him. It was just after midday. 

Jon looked up when Brendon leaned against the doorframe, checking in on them. “Hey, Brendon.”

‘Did he wake?’ Brendon signed. 

Jon shook his head. “Not yet.” He said. “Hey, Brendon. Do you think you could do me a giant favor?” 

Brendon tilted his head to the side, and Jon continued. 

 

“Would you go down to town and see if Tom’s friends are back too? You’ve seen the house before, you remember where it is.” Brendon nodded.

“And I know your feet are. I know this is a lot to ask of you.” Jon added quickly. “I just. I don’t know what to do. We need answers, and I’m pretty sure they’ll have them.” 

Brendon nodded again, and pointed at a pad of paper on the desk. Jon looked at it, and then nodded, handing it to Brendon. 

Brendon signed ‘names’ and looked at Jon questioningly. 

“What, Tom’s friends? I think. Ask for William. He’s in charge, it seems. The rest of them are Mike, the Butcher, and Sisky.”

Brendon raised an eyebrow at the names, and Jon laughed a little. “Yeah, I don’t know either. I told you they were weird.”

Brendon smiled, and then hesitated for a second. He wanted to give Jon another hug, and Jon looked like he needed it, but he was afraid he wasn’t welcome. 

Jon seemed to read his mind, though, and held out his arms. Brendon moved forward and clung tightly to Jon for a second. It had been a long night.

When they separated, Brendon headed out of the building and started through the town. It was a beautiful day, at the point where it was hard to tell whether it was summer, or still spring. He walked slowly through the town, taking breaks when the pain got to be too much and doing his best not to limp. On the breaks, he wrote down on the pad what he wanted to tell whoever answered the door. He made it to the house that he and Jon had visited several times, and climbed the stairs to the front door. 

He pounded hard on the front door like he had seen Jon do many times, and it swung open almost immediately. A rather angry looking man stood there glaring at him. “What do you want?” He demanded. 

Brendon wondered which of the people this was. His money was on the Butcher, because why else would they call someone Butcher if it wasn’t because he was mean?

He shoved the pad at the guy, and he took it and started to read. It said ‘I’m Brendon. I can’t talk. I’m looking for William. Jon sent me.’

The man read it, and then read it again, and then looked up at Brendon a little less angrily and said “Maybe you should come in.” 

Brendon followed him into the house. It was dark, and kind of smelled like no one had been home for months, which. Okay. 

The man went into a kitchen area without saying another word to Brendon, and pointed at the table and said “Wait here.”

Brendon took that to mean that he could sit down at the table, and honestly, even if it didn’t, he didn’t care. He was in pain. 

He sat down in one of the chairs and waited. After a moment, a skinny boy about his own age appeared. He had a mop of ridiculously curly hair floating around his head, and Brendon kind of thought it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. 

“Hello.” The boy said. Brendon smiled a bit and reached for his pad of paper. 

He showed it to the boy. The boy read it and took a deep breath. “Okay. Does Jon know. Has he seen Tom yet?”

Brendon nodded. 

“Okay. I’m Sisky. Let’s head over to Jon’s place and I can explain everything.” He said. He looked exhausted. 

Brendon frowned and pointed to the pad of paper, finger just below the name ‘William’.

“I know.” Sisky said. “But William is kind of… out of it right now. I can take care of it.”

Brendon shrugged, and when Sisky stood up, Brendon followed him. On the way to the door, they were intercepted by a third person, a man with curly hair and covered with tattoos. “Sisky. Wait.” He called.

He got close to Sisky, and they spoke in hushed voices to each other, arguing a little. At one point Sisky said something that sounded like “I can take care of myself!” And started to turn away. 

The other man put a hand on the back of Sisky’s neck and pulled him in close. He pressed their foreheads together and spoke quickly and quietly. After a moment, Sisky’s face softened. 

“Okay.” He said quietly. Then he pulled away for real. 

Sisky turned to Brendon, still standing awkwardly by the door. “This is Butcher. He’s coming with us.”

Brendon blinked in surprise. He had assumed the other guy was Butcher. He must have been… Mike, then? Oops. 

Brendon nodded, and the two of them led the way out of the house. 

 

Brendon walked tenderly down the streets back to the blacksmithery, and Sisky and Butcher followed him. When he got back, he opened the door, and led them into the kitchen and signaled that they should wait there for a second. 

Brendon went up the stairs and into Jon’s room, where Jon was still sitting with Tom. He knocked gently on the doorframe and Jon looked up. 

Brendon signed ‘They are here’, and pointed down the stairs. 

“They?” Jon asked. “Wait.” 

Brendon nodded and pointed again downstairs. Jon nodded. “Um. I’ve already asked too much of you.” He said.

Brendon sensed his reluctance to leave Tom, and rolled his eyes. He pushed Jon towards the door, and then sat down in the chair Jon had put next to his bed at some point. 

“Thank you, Brendon.” Jon said fervently. Brendon rolled his eyes again and made shooing motions.

Jon disappeared down the stairs, and Brendon heard him talking to the people downstairs. Brendon grabbed the pad of paper and started doodling mindlessly, trying to listen to the talking going on. 

Tom shifted at one point, and he looked up. Tom’s face was creased with emotion, sadness and what looked like fear. As Brendon watched, he shifted again, and then suddenly sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. 

Brendon jumped a little from surprise, and the pad fell to the floor with a quiet thump. Tom looked over. 

He stared at Brendon for a moment before struggling upright, trying to get out of the bed. “Who are you?” He snapped, glaring at Brendon. He managed to get out of the bed, but the blankets wrapped around his legs and he went down, catching himself with his hands. 

Brendon got up and rushed around to the other side of the bed, dropping to his knees in front of Tom. Tom was seriously struggling, trying to get the blanket off of him but too panicked to do anything. 

Brendon reached out, putting a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down, but Tom shoved it off. “Who are you?” He snapped again. 

Brendon jumped up and retrieved the pad from the other side of the bed. He sat down on the floor next to Tom and wrote his usual opener as quickly as he could. ‘I’m Brendon. I can’t talk.’

He handed it to Tom, and Tom read it. He met Brendon’s eyes now, a little bit calmer. “Where am I?”

Brendon wrote ‘In town. In blacksmith house. You know Jon?’

Tom read it, and swallowed hard. “Jon. Is he. God. Is he alive?” He asked, sounding terrified. 

Brendon stared at him, not responding in his confusion. 

“No.” Tom whispered, mistaking his confusion. 

Brendon shook his head like he was a dog shaking off water, snatching the paper back and writing ‘Jon is fine.’ He underlined fine three times and handed it back. 

Tom exhaled shakily, burying his face in his hands when he had read it. “Where is he?” He asked. “Is he hurt?” 

Brendon pointed at ‘fine’ on the paper, jabbing his finger at it multiple times. Then he pointed towards the stairs. 

Tom sat there for a long moment, just breathing. He looked like he was trying not to cry. “He’s okay?” He asked again. Brendon met his eyes and nodded. 

“Fuck.” Tom said. “I don’t. I didn’t remember much, I just remember seeing him in the forest, and I was so scared I was going to hurt him like I hurt Bill. I thought I did, I thought I killed him.”

Brendon didn’t know who Bill was or what was going on, but he shook his head and reached out to pat Tom’s shoulder. 

He took the pad again and wrote ‘Want to go downstairs?”

Tom nodded, and Brendon took the pad with him, leading the way slowly down the stairs to the kitchen. When he got there, he stood in the doorway for a second. Jon’s back was to him, but Butcher and Sisky sat across from Jon, facing Brendon. Brendon gave a little whistle to get Jon’s attention. Jon turned around and looked at Brendon.

Brendon realized then that he didn’t have a sign for Tom’s name, so he just signed ‘awake.’ 

“Tom is?” Jon asked, standing. Tom pushed past Brendon, and when he saw Jon, basically collapsed in Jon’s arms. 

They hugged tightly for a long while, and Brendon squeezed past them into the kitchen and helped himself to the plate of snacks Jon had set out. Butcher and Sisky were staring alternatively at him and at the hugging couple in the doorway. 

When they finally let go of each other and came to sit at the table, Brendon smiled at Jon and signed, ‘What happened?’

“It’s a long story.” Jon said. “And I don’t know all of it yet. Can you explain, Tom?”

Tom took a deep breath, resting his head on Jon’s shoulder for a minute. “Okay.” He said. 

“So, you know we left to go travel, when was it?”

“Last summer.” Jon said. “Like, nine months ago or so?” 

“Oh, wow. That’s… longer than I thought.” Tom said. He looked over at Sisky and Butcher. “Were we really gone that long?” 

Butcher nodded. “We ended up heading north enough that it stayed warm all year long, so we didn’t really realize that we missed winter. And we would have come back sooner, but. Tom.”

“Yeah, I fucked up.” Tom said casually. “But it wasn’t entirely my fault.”

Jon snorted out a laugh and looked at Tom. “What happened?”

Sisky jumped in and started telling them. “So we were at this bar, right, who knows where, and some dude was hitting on Bill, and then Tom went off on him, and then the dude was like, hey, I’ll meet you at this abandoned field at midnight tomorrow, and we all kind of laughed it off, and then Tom fucking went, and apparently the guy was a werewolf and then he almost murdered Tom.”

“And you’re a werewolf now.” Jon said, staring at Tom. 

Tom crooked up the side of his mouth in a rueful smile. “Tadaaa” He said. “You’re taking this pretty calmly. None of them believed me until they saw me transform the next month, which is another story we have to tell you about. But, like, werewolf! They aren’t even actually supposed to exist!”

Jon shared a glance with Brendon, and they both managed to keep a straight face for a moment, before collapsing on the table with laughter. When they had recovered a little bit, Brendon looked straight at Tom and signed ‘Same’, and that set Jon off again. 

Sisky and Butcher were looking at them as though they were insane, and Tom just looked resigned. “What are we missing here?” He asked finally. 

Jon grinned at Brendon. “Should I tell them? Or should we wait until Bill and Mike are here too?” 

Brendon hesitated. ‘Who can help?’ He signed. 

“Probably William, mostly.” Jon said. 

‘Wait.’ Brendon decided.

“Okay.” Jon said. “We’ll tell you later, then. Where are Bill and Mike, anyway?” 

The grin slid off of Tom’s face, and Sisky and Butcher sat up, looking concerned. 

“Tom?” Jon asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Um.” Tom said. “With the werewolf thing. Part of why we were gone so long.” 

“Okay?” Jon asked, starting to look afraid. “What’s wrong?”

“On the second full moon after I got bitten.” Tom said. “They were all there, because they didn’t believe me that I was a werewolf.” 

Brendon didn’t like where that was going. 

“William. He was. I was. I think he was trying to protect me.” Tom said, suddenly quiet and nervous. “But when I’m the wolf, I don’t have control over myself. I can’t do anything, and I usually don’t remember much from the night. I attacked him.” He said. 

Jon drew in a deep breath, reaching for Tom instinctively. Tom shied away a little, crossing his arms over his stomach. “But something was wrong. I think it’s because William is magic, because he wasn’t entirely human to begin with. His magic tried to fight off the werewolf thing, and it. It didn’t work right. He’s really sick. It’s getting worse with every full moon. That’s why it took us so long to get home.”

“Fuck.” Jon said. “Tom.”

Tom took a deep breath, looking horribly sad. “We don’t know how to fix it.” He said quietly. “It’s all my fault.”

“Don’t be a moron, Conrad.” Jon said, reaching out, and this time when Tom pulled away, catching him and tugging him into a tight hug. Tom leaned into it this time, taking shallow breaths with his face against Jon’s neck. 

“It was almost you too.” He said. “I remember seeing you, when I was a wolf. How did I not bite you?”

“The sun came up.” Jon said. “It’s okay. Tommy, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

Tom shook his head, but didn’t argue. 

“We should get back.” Butcher said, standing. “You’re welcome to come with us, but we left Bill alone with Mike, and I’m pretty sure someone’s bound to end up dead if we don’t get back soon.”

Jon looked to Brendon, and then down at Tom. “Tom.” He said. “You need to go to William. He needs you.” 

Tom closed his eyes for a moment, bracing himself, and then stood up slowly. “Okay.” He said. “Come and visit us tomorrow?” He asked Jon, glancing at Brendon as well.

Jon nodded. “Of course.” He said. “If there’s anything I can do to help.”

Brendon whistled at the pitch to get Jon’s attention, and signed ‘We.’ 

Jon smiled. “If there’s anything we can do to help.” He said. “Just let us know.”

Tom nodded. “Means a lot, Jonny.” He said. 

The three of them filed out of the house. On his way out, Sisky clapped Brendon on the back and said “Nice meeting you, shorty.” Brendon grinned at him. 

Jon dropped into a chair once they were gone, and buried his face in his hands. Brendon sat down gingerly next to him. Jon looked up and smiled wearily at him. “What a mess, right?” He asked. 

Brendon smiled a little back. ‘Can I ask questions?’ He asked tentatively. Jon nodded. 

Brendon thought for a moment, trying to decide what to ask first. He eventually settled on ‘Are you and Tom love?’ He wasn’t entirely sure how to phrase it; even after almost a year of making up sign language with Jon, he still had some limitations in his vocabulary. He also still didn’t have a sign for Tom, so he just mouthed the name.

Jon nodded. “Yeah, Tom and I love each other.” He looked a little confused by the question. Brendon figured he hadn’t been clear. He considered again how to phrase it. In the end he just signed ‘Married?’

Now Jon looked confused. “Me and Tom? Wait. Oh! Wait, you mean, romantically? Do we love each other like that? No. He’s my best friend, but no. Tom is. Or was, with William. I hope they’re still together, their love is intense. I suppose the werewolf thing is… they have to deal with that.”

Brendon nodded thoughtfully. Then he mouthed ‘Sisky’ and ‘Butcher’ and tilted his head quizzically. 

“Those two are actually married, if that’s what you’re asking.” Jon said. “It’s been, what, two years now? They’re sickeningly adorable, right?”

Brendon thought of the way Butcher had held Sisky close back at their house and nodded. 

“We should go to bed, I’m thinking.” Jon said around a yawn. The sun was barely going down, but their sleep schedules had been thrown all to hell in the last couple of days, and they were both exhausted. Brendon nodded. 

They went up to their respective rooms, and Brendon fell asleep quickly. 

The next day, Brendon woke up before Jon, and ended up going downstairs and making food for the both of them. By the time Jon woke up and stumbled down the stairs, sleepy and adorable, Brendon was serving it up. 

He held out the plate, and Jon took it with an emphatic “Thank you.”

They sat down, and as they ate the food, Jon told Brendon that he wanted to see if there was some way to break the werewolf curse. “We were going to try to break your curse, right? Still are, I mean, but we can’t get William to help us break it if he’s too sick to do anything, right?” Jon said. 

Brendon could see that Jon was trying to hide his nervousness for the people who Brendon suspected were Jon’s friends as well as Tom’s. He nodded. ‘We have to help him.’ He signed. 

Jon nodded. “So I was thinking, we could do some research. William is magic, he’s not entirely human, I know that, so he might know more about it than we will. We have to ask and see what he know. We should also try to see if there’s anything about it in his books. I think he has at least one book about magical creatures, and we can see if there’s anything about merfolk in there as well.”

Brendon nodded. ‘Go there after breakfast?’ He signed. 

Jon nodded. “Yeah. As soon as possible, right?” 

They finished eating, and then Jon offered to carry Brendon over to Tom and company’s house. Brendon accepted happily. 

It took them a little longer than usual to get there, since Jon had to carry Brendon, but when they got there, Mike opened the door like he had when Brendon had showed up, said “Jon fucking Walker,” and yanked Jon into a hug. 

Brendon loosened his arms from around Jon’s neck, sliding from his back and casually heading further into the house. He found Butcher and Sisky in the kitchen, talking seriously about something. Brendon worried it was private, and was about to back out of the room, but Sisky looked up and called him over.

Brendon sat down at the table, across from them, and looked down at the book that Butcher pushed towards him. It was some sort of really old book, and the writing in it was incredibly hard to read. Brendon looked up, about to comment on it, but realized that he had left the pad of paper at home, and Jon was in the other room. 

He pouted for a moment, before whistling the pitch that meant ‘get your ass over here, Jon Walker.’

Jon came in from the other room almost right away. “Yeah, Brendon?” 

Butcher and Sisky stared at them, and then at each other, mouths open in amusement and surprise, and then Sisky started giggling. 

“What?” Jon asked. “What’s so funny?”

Brendon shrugged. 

Butcher grinned at Jon. “He just whistled at you. And you came running. Like a puppy.”

Jon sputtered for a moment, and then said “Oh, like you wouldn’t do the same for Sisky, you hypocrite.”

That only made Sisky laugh harder, and Butcher said. “Jon, Sisky and I are married. What point are you trying to make?”

Brendon blushed bright red when he realized what Butcher was implying, and Jon wouldn’t meet his eyes. 

“Anyway.” Jon said awkwardly. “What do you need, Brendon?”

Brendon looked up at him and signed, ‘Left paper home.’ 

“Oh, crap.” Jon said. “And they can’t understand your signing.” 

Brendon nodded dolefully. 

“I can just interpret for now, then.” Jon said. Brendon pretended not to notice the glance Butcher and Sisky exchanged at that, and nodded at Jon.

Brendon pushed the book towards Jon, keeping it open to the page Sisky had pushed towards him. ‘I can’t read it.’ He signed. ‘Too… messy.’

Jon nodded, looking down at the page. “This is seriously old fashioned writing.” He said. “How old is this book?” 

Butcher shrugged. “Who knows? It’s probably been in Bill’s family for centuries.”

Jon shook his head, skimming the page and then turning it. “Is this about werewolves?” He asked curiously.

“Yeah, see?” Sisky leaned over. “Lycanthropy. And there’s a lovely picture.”

“Ew.” Jon said. “That doesn’t look like Tom. That looks like some sort of hairy man.” 

“What’s the difference?” Butcher asked. 

Jon snorted, and Sisky giggled. Brendon hid his smile behind his sleeve. 

Jon turned the page. “So you think this’ll have information on how to break the curse?”

“If we can read it.” Butcher said. “Although, who knows how accurate it is.”

Jon sighed. “We should make a list of possibilities, and then cross reference them with other books. Do you know how many books like this Bill has?”

Sisky shrugged. “You’d have to ask William himself. Half of these are in like, latin. How are we even supposed to read them?”

‘Does he know latin?’ Brendon signed.

“Who, Bill?” Jon asked. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised about what?” Butcher asked. 

“If Bill spoke latin.” Jon said. “Which, by the way, we need to make up signs for all of their names.” He added to Brendon. Brendon nodded. 

“Why don’t we start going through all of Bill’s books and see what we can find?” Jon asked. “There has to be something.”

They went into the other room and started to search through the piles of books, reading the sections most relevant and skimming the rest. At one point, Jon stopped and held up the book he was reading. “Look at this.” He said. 

Brendon crawled over and climbed part of the way into Jon’s lap to read it over his shoulder. 

“What does it say?” Butcher asked. 

“It’s talking about people who became werewolves against their will. It says if someone is turned against their will, the curse is not eternal until they taste human blood. Once they do, there is no cure.”

“Shit.” Sisky said. 

“What?” Jon asked. “You said Bill was sick, that the curse didn’t take all the way. He didn’t bite anyone, did he?”

“No, he didn’t, but Tom did.” Sisky said. 

Jon didn’t say anything, just leaned back, eyes wide. 

“Except, hold on. Human blood.” Butcher countered. “Bill’s not completely human, right? That was the whole point. Maybe it doesn’t count.” 

“Maybe.” Sisky said doubtfully.

“Okay.” Jon said finally. “Fine. Even if we can’t cure Tom, it’s okay, right? He’s not dying. So what if he’s a werewolf.”

“That’s the spirit.” Butcher muttered sarcastically, looking back down to his book. “Something else, though. Here it’s talking about removing the werewolf curse, and it says that the only way to do it is to kill the person who made you into a werewolf. 

The entire room was silent for a moment. “Okay, that one’s out of the question.” Sisky said. “Nobody’s killing Tom. Least of all William.”

Butcher snorted. “Obviously. Can you imagine him trying?”

“I’d rather not.” Jon said, sounding grumpy, setting his book down and reaching for a new one. They all watched him for a moment, unsure if they had offended him. 

He maintained the act for another moment, before looking up and smirking at them. “He might try to do it with his dick.”

Butcher and Sisky both yelled in disgust. “We didn’t need that image, man, we get it enough as it it!”

Brendon leaned forward, grinning hard. 

They continued looking through the books, and finally Brendon found something that might be useful. He tugged at Jon’s sleeve until Jon looked over, and showed him the book. 

There were a few pictures, one with a girl facing a wolf, and then some showing the progression of the paw back to a hand. The text under it looked kind of like instructions, but Brendon couldn’t read them. He was pretty sure they were not in english. 

Jon stared at it for a moment and then nodded. “We have to figure out what this says.” He said. “It might be useful.” 

“What language is it in?” Butcher asked. 

“I think latin.” Jon said. “Should I see if William can read it?” 

Butcher and Sisky exchanged a glance. “You can try. He’s. Like we said, he’s sick, so don’t expect too much, but you can try.”

Jon beckoned to Brendon, and then led the way up the stairs and knocked on a door. It swung open a crack and Mike looked out at them. “Hey.” He said wearily.

“Hey.” Jon said. “We’re doing research, but we had to ask Bill something.” 

Mike nodded and opened the door all the way. Brendon followed Brendon into the room, and saw Jon’s shoulders tense when he caught sight of the man sitting up in bed, propped up by a bunch of pillows. He looked tired and wan, skin pale and stretched tight over his bones as though he didn’t quite fit into his own body. 

He met their eyes when they came in and smiled at Jon. “Jon Walker.” He said. “Missed you.”

Jon smiled back, sitting down gingerly on the side of the bed. “Missed you too, Billiam.” He said. “How are you?” 

Brendon stood awkwardly next to Mike as they talked.

“Oh, you know.” Bill said. “Just kind of worn out from the traveling.” 

“Right.” Jon said. “Look, we were doing research about how to break the curse, right? Because if we can break the werewolf curse, then it’ll stop fighting with your fae blood and you’ll be okay, right?”

Bill nodded. “Theoretically. But is it even possible to break the curse?”

Jon shrugged. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. But this book… is not in english. Can you read it?”

Bill held out a hand, and Jon gave it to him, ignoring the way he nearly dropped it right away. Bill steadied it in his lap and peered down at it. 

After a long moment, he spoke. “It’s saying that true love calling it by name at the height of the full moon will turn it back.” 

Jon looked thoughtful. “Okay.” He said. “Thanks, Bill. We’ll tell you when we have something figured out, okay?” Bill nodded, and Jon got up. 

On their way out, Jon asked Mike in a low voice “Where’s Tom?” 

Mike frowned. “He hasn’t spoken to William since it happened, hasn’t touched him. He thinks it’s his fault.”

Brendon thought back to what Tom had said when he had thought he had hurt Jon. ‘No, not again.’ He had said. He was afraid he had hurt Jon the way he had hurt William. 

“Okay.” Jon said. “We’ll deal with that, too.”

“Take care of yourself, Jon.” Mike said. “You can’t fix everything.”

Jon shrugged off his concern and led Brendon back down the stairs. “What do you think?” He asked. “When true love calls it by name?”

Brendon shrugged. He signed ‘How would that work?’

“I don’t know.” Jon said. “I’m thinking Tom might be the true love, but what, does he just yell ‘William’ really loudly?”

Brendon smiled. He signed, ‘How could he yell if he’s a wolf?’

Jon shrugged. “Maybe we should just keep researching.”

They got back to the room, and found that Butcher and Sisky had been distracted by a different book, and they were both poring over it, heads together. 

“What did you find?” Jon asked. 

Sisky sat up and held out the book. “Check it out. It’s about fae.”

Jon took the book and skimmed the page. He obviously saw something important, because he dropped to the floor and tugged Brendon over. “Look. Look at this.” 

Brendon looked down at the page. It was a passage on fae names, and how knowing someone’s true name meant you held power over them. Brendon looked up and met Jon’s eyes, thinking he knew what Jon was getting at. 

‘Call true name’ He signed. 

Jon nodded. “Exactly. And it says that when fae are in the human world, they rarely use their real names because if they become vulnerable to humans, there’s more risk to them because of their magic powers.” Jon waved his hands a little to describe the magic powers. 

“Okay, what are you talking about?” Butcher asked finally. 

“Bill said that this book,” Jon waved the book that they had brought upstairs “Says that if true love calls a werewolf by it’s name on the full moon, they’ll return to their human form.”

“Oh.” Sisky said softly. “So if Tom calls William, by his true fairy name, then William won’t be a werewolf anymore, and then he won’t be sick!” 

Brendon furrowed his brow, and whistled at Jon. He signed, clearly and distinctly, ‘Wolves can’t talk.’

“Oh. Shit, yeah, that’s a good point.” Jon said. 

“What?” Butcher asked. 

“How is Tom going to call Bill if he’s a wolf?”

“Also, Tom hasn’t been speaking to Bill.” Sisky added. “He’s really stubborn. I don’t know how we’re going to get him to change his mind.”

“And does he even know Bill’s name? And if they’re fighting, and he doesn’t know, will Bill tell him?” Butcher said.

“Okay.” Jon signed. “One problem at a time. At least we’re a little bit closer, right?”

“Maybe there’s some way that we can get Tom not to transform on the full moon.” Butcher said. “Then he could say William’s name.”

“Then we’re back to the idea of trying to cure Tom, too. How are we going to accomplish that?”

“We read books.” Sisky said. “Come on.”

They hit the books again, and at one point Butcher asked “Have any of you found anything else about silver?” 

Jon nodded. “A little bit. It keeps talking about how they’re vulnerable to silver, but it doesn’t say more than that.”

“This one talks about it more.” Butcher said. “It’s saying that if a friend of the werewolf stabs the werewolf with a silver knife, they won’t transform until the wound heals.”

Slowly, everyone in the room looked up at Jon. 

“Oh, hell no.” He said. 

“He’s your best friend.” Butcher said.

“Which is exactly why I’m not stabbing him.” Jon snapped. 

“What if it’s the only way to save Bill?”

“What if it doesn’t work?!”

“What the hell is going on?!”

Brendon clapped a hand over his mouth as he turned to see Tom in the doorway. 

“Were you just contemplating stabbing me?” He asked. 

“I wasn’t!” Jon protested. 

“We have a little bit of a plan to save Bill, but it’s kind of complicated and involves stabbing you.” Sisky informed Tom matter of factly. 

“Oh, great.” Tom said faintly. 

“We’re not stabbing him!” Jon protested. 

“Don’t worry, you wouldn’t die.” Sisky added. 

“Uh huh.” Tom said. 

“Okay, but what about the part with Bill’s name?” Jon asked. 

“What about Bill’s name?” Tom asked.

“Do you know Bill’s magical fairy name?” Sisky asked. “If you say it to him in the forest in the middle of the night, you can save him.” 

“Um, no? Wait, maybe.” Tom looked thoughtful. 

They continued planning, and by the time the full moon came around, they were mostly ready. The night they were going to try to execute the plan, Brendon took Jon aside and handed him the knife that his sister had given him. 

Jon looked kind of freaked out, but he took it, turning it over in his hand. “Okay. Thank you.”

Brendon nodded. 

The plan was for them to go out to the woods by the river, away from the town in case something went wrong. Jon was going to cut Tom’s hand, and then supposedly he wouldn’t transform, and then when the moon had risen, they would all get out of earshot and Tom would say Bill’s true name. 

Things started going wrong as soon as they got there. 

Clouds covered the sun, and before the moon even came out, William collapsed on the ground, Sisky doing his best to hold him up, but six feet of limb was hard to keep balanced. Tom was by his side at an instant, clinging to his hand. Brendon watched, eyes wide, as Tom knelt there, whispering apologies to Bill, who didn’t seem to be able to hear them. 

Mike pushed Butcher and Sisky back. The married couple was clinging to each other, faces pale and frightened. 

“Get out of here.” Mike said harshly. “Go get back to town, stay safe.” 

“Go with them, Mike.” Jon added, dropping by Tom’s side. “We can handle this.” 

Mike hesitated, looking doubtful. 

“Go!” Jon snapped as suddenly, Tom lurched backward. The cloud cover shifted, and the moon was rising into the sky. 

Jon shoved Tom away from Bill, getting in between them and tugging Brendon behind him. “Take care of Bill.” He ordered. 

Brendon nodded, even though Jon couldn’t see it, and crouched next to Bill. He looked like he was unconscious, the fight between the three different sides of him too much at the moment. 

Tom had finished transforming, and now he snarled at Jon, creeping forward. Brendon watched, heart in his throat, as Jon stepped forward, gripping the knife with a white-knuckled hand. 

For a moment, everything seemed to stand still, and then Tom lunged forward. 

Jon very nearly got bitten, dodging to the side at the last second. He made a half-aborted lunge with the knife, torn between needing to protect himself and not wanting to hurt Tom too badly. 

Brendon wanted to shout, to curse, but he couldn’t. All he could do was stare and watch as Tom got in close again and lunged. Jon jumped back again, but he tripped, and went down hard. 

Brendon didn’t realize he was moving until his fingers closed around the knife, jumping forward and getting in between Tom and Jon. He crouched there for a moment, breathing deeply. Jon was getting up behind him, scrabbling at Brendon’s shoulder, trying to push Brendon behind him. Brendon let Jon pull him back behind him, take the knife back. 

This time, when Tom lunged, Jon was pushed to the side when he tried to dodge. It was messy, and he was almost bitten again. The worst part was now, Jon and Brendon were separated. Jon had been the only thing stopping Tom from getting to Brendon, and now he was out of the way. 

Tom turned, baring his teeth at Brendon, and Brendon had one short moment to think “Oh shit,” and then the wolf was upon him.

He found himself on his back on the ground without comprehending how he had gotten there. The wolf was above him, teeth bared, breath hot on Brendon’s face. Brendon squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the pain.

Instead he got a deafening howl, right in his ear. The wolf jumped off of him, spinning around to face Jon, and the sharp knife in his leg, and collapsed instead. 

Brendon didn’t move from his spot on the ground, feeling like he couldn’t get any breath into his lungs. 

A second later, though, Jon was crouching over him, saying “Brendon, Brendon, please, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Brendon blinked up at Jon, and Jon pulled his shoulders off of the ground and hugged him tightly to his chest. Jon’s voice was shaky, as though he were holding back tears, and his chest was jumping with every unsteady breath. 

Brendon didn’t move for a moment, didn’t even hug Jon back, just closed his eyes and felt held. He didn’t want to move. 

He heard Tom’s voice a couple of meters away, though, after a moment, sounding terrified, saying “Jon?” and then “Brendon? Oh my god, no.”

Brendon gently pushed Jon away, trying to sit up. He looked over Jon’s shoulder where Tom was sitting on the ground, looking paralyzed with horror. He pushed at Jon until Jon turned around to see Tom, transformed back into a human. 

Jon gasped out a little sob, and then buried his face in Brendon’s shoulder just for a second. When he let go, he moved back over to Tom and hugged him tightly. 

“I hurt him.” Tom whispered. “Did I hurt him?”

“He’s okay. We’re fine, Tom. And it worked.” Jon said. “Come on, you have to say William’s true name.”

Tom tried to stand, but his leg gave out, and Brendon saw a deep cut on the back of his calf. The cut was angry red all around it, looking like a wound that had been infected for days, not one that was ten minutes old.

He ended up crawling to William’s side. He looked up at them “You have to go. I can’t. I have to protect him.” 

Jon nodded, standing up and pulling Brendon up as well. “We’ll stay close, so yell if you need us.” He said. 

They went a little ways into the forest, clinging to each other. When they were far enough away they wouldn’t be able to hear Tom’s voice, they stopped. “Are you alright, Brendon?” Jon asked seriously.

Brendon nodded. Jon had saved him. Jon had stabbed Tom, with a knife, to save Brendon. He wrapped his arms around Jon’s soft belly and leaned into him. Now that the threat had faded, his hands were starting to shake.

Jon put his arms around Brendon’s shoulders and held him close. “I’ve got you.” He whispered. 

“Jon!” Tom called. Jon slid his arms away from Brendon, catching his hand. 

“Come on.”

They went back to the clearing, where Tom was sitting with William cradled in his lap. 

“I don’t know if it worked.” He said quietly.

“Okay.” Jon said. “Let’s go home, anyway.” 

Jon picked up William, a ridiculous image because Williaim was so tall and Jon was not, but Jon had blacksmith muscles. Brendon helped Tom up, pulled his arm around Brendon’s shoulders, and then they followed Jon through the forest. 

They just went back to Jon’s place because it was closer, and found Mike, Butcher, and Sisky waiting there. “Did it work?” Sisky asked right away, standing up on the porch when he saw them coming. 

“We don’t know yet.” Jon said. He brought William in and laid him down on his bed like he had done with Tom. “Tom needs first aid,” he called down the stairs on his way up.

“I’m fine.” Tom said.

“Shut the hell up.” Mike told him, ducking under his other arm and tugging him towards a chair. He grabbed some clean linen strips and some water and started cleaning the wound. “This looks disgusting.” He informed Tom casually, in the same tone that you might saw ‘It’s a nice day outside.’

The next day, when Brendon woke up on the floor, halfway on top of Jon, his head on Jon’s chest and Jon’s hand in his hair, sunlight was streaming through the window into the room. Sisky and Butcher were cuddled together on a chair far too small for the both of them, Mike was on his stomach on the floor, all dead asleep. Tom was nowhere to be seen, but Brendon could guess where he was. 

He very carefully disentangled himself from Jon and padded quietly up the stairs. Every step sent blinding pain up his legs, as though his body was getting payback for the couple of days he had spent so preoccupied he hadn’t thought about his pain. 

He climbed the stairs and headed for Jon’s room, standing in the doorway and peering in. Just as he had predicted, Tom was asleep, sitting in a chair, but slumped onto the side of Jon’s bed. William was in the bed, still unconscious from the night before it appeared, but looking a little less pale, a little healthier. Brendon smiled to himself a little and snuck back downstairs. 

He went into the kitchen and started making breakfast for the five, six, seven people in the house. He was still cooking when Jon padded almost silently into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Brendon from behind. 

Brendon grinned, leaning into his hug and trying to look behind him at the same time. It didn’t really work. 

“Good morning, Brendon.” Jon said quietly, letting go of him and moving next to him to help cook. “Have you seen Tom?”

Brendon signed ‘Upstairs’, and Jon laughed a little. 

“Of course. With Bill?”

Brendon nodded. 

Jon shook his head a little. “Did you see Butcher and Sisky?” He asked. Brendon grinned, nodding. 

He signed ‘Break chair’

“I know!” Jon said. 

They finished breakfast and brought it out into the other room, handing it out to the half awake people. Jon went upstairs to see if Bill and Tom were feeling well enough to come down. Whether or not they were, they did anyway. Jon had to half carry them down, Bill first and then Tom. He dropped William on the couch, and then dropped Tom almost completely on top of him. When Tom protested, Jon looked at them sternly and said “Sort your shit out.”

They managed to at least start to by the time everyone had gotten breakfast food and sat down at various places in the living room. Tom ended up pressed against William’s side, barely able to move to bring his food to his mouth. 

“So now what?” Mike asked. 

Jon looked at Brendon. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t want the others to hear. Brendon rolled his eyes and pointedly signed ‘What?’

Jon got with the program and signed back ‘Should we ask about you?’

Brendon nodded, shrugging one shoulder. He whistled an affirmative. 

Jon looked back at the rest of the room, a bunch of baffled people. “Okay.” He said. “It’s been a weird couple of months.” He said. “I don’t know if you all got introduced to Brendon properly. He rode through town, when… Just before autumn, last year. He came to me for a new axle for this old lady, and then ended up staying.”

Brendon pretended to miss Butcher and Sisky’s eyerolls. 

“He can’t talk, obviously. Um.” Jon looked at Brendon with uncertainty. “How do I explain this?”

Brendon considered for a moment, and then started signing. He looked at the rest of the room while he did it, and Jon understood that he was meant to translate. 

“I was born a merfolk prince under the sea north of here. I asked to be able to walk on land, and the sea witch gave me a potion. The curse is that I can’t talk and it hurts to walk. If I ever enter the sea again I will dissolve into sea foam.” He paused, and Jon started up again. 

“We want to find out if it’s possible to break the curse.” He said. 

William was watching them both with sharp eyes, a thousand times more aware than before. “There was a potion?” He asked. “What did it taste like?”

Brendon signed ‘The sea’, and Jon repeated it. 

“What, like saltwater?” William asked. Brendon nodded. 

“I was always good at potions.” Bill informed them, almost gleeful about it. “I’ll need to research a little bit, but if there is a way to break it I’ll be able to find it. It’ll end up being another potion that you have to take, and I might not have all the ingredients on hand, just so that you know.” He said. 

Brendon nodded. 

 

Days passed. Tom and his crazy friends ended up going back to their own home, and Jon and Brendon settled back into their life, except without the feeling of doom that missing friends had always held over them. A week after everyone had left Jon’s house, Brendon was sitting on the table, kicking his leg and watching Jon work, when suddenly Jon practically dropped his tool on the bench and turned to Brendon. 

 

He moved quickly, and then slow when he got close to Brendon, reaching out. “Is this okay?” He asked, once he had gotten close. Brendon nodded. 

Jon leaned in all the way and kissed Brendon, gentle and close mouthed. Brendon kissed back.

They were still kissing when the door flung open and Sisky ran in, yelling about something. 

Jon and Brendon broke away quickly, but it was too late. Sisky stared at them for a long moment, before doubling over laughing. He went to the door and yelled for Butcher. “Butch! Brendon and Jon were having sex on the table!”

Brendon blushed bright red, and Jon yelled back “We weren’t having sex!” They heard Butcher crack up from outside. 

Brendon buried his heated face in Jon’s shoulder, and Jon asked “What do you want, Sisky?”

Sisky turned back around. “William figured out what he needs to make the potion that’ll break your curse.” He informed them. “But if you’re busy, I suppose we could deal with that later.”

“Oh!” Jon said. “Really? That’s great!” 

“Yeah, you say that now, but wait until you see what the ingredients are.” Sisky said. 

Brendon and Jon followed Sisky out to where Butcher was taking care of the cart. They all got loaded on, and Butcher drove to their house. Thankfully, they laid off the teasing when Jon threatened them with certain stories from when they were young. 

They got to the house, and went inside and into the room with all the books, where they had done their research for Tom and William. William was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books. 

“Okay, great fairy.” Jon said, plopping down on the floor across from him. “What ingredients do we need to get?” 

William looked up at him. He seemed a little absent, buried in his work. “You need a bunch of things. There’s some regular plants and shit that I can get out of our garden, but there are… four things that are going to be a little more work. And I think you two are going to be the ones going to get them. 

“What are the four things?” Jon asked. Brendon sat down next to Jon, leaning against his side a little. 

William set down a piece of paper in front of them. There were crude sketches of four different items on it. 

“This one is the Feather Rose. It grows at the top of the Rynun Mountain, directly east of here.” He pointed at what looked like a picture of some sort of flower. 

“At the top of the mountain? And only at the top of the mountain?” Jon asked skeptically. 

“Unfortunately, yes.” William said. “The significant thing about this plant is it’s ability to survive not only in a cold climate, but also in one with very little oxygen. And that’s one of the easier ones.

“The next thing,” William continued. “Is the Sour Istoth, also known as Blue Glele, which happens to be found underground, in a cave west of here.”

“Oh, of course.” Jon said, “That’s exactly what I was expecting.” 

Brendon smiled, leaning his head against Jon’s shoulder. 

“It’s fed by cold water from the cave’s stalactites, and it looks like this.” William said, pointing at the picture. 

“The next item is known as Dragon Pyroxene, named for the fact that it’s one of the rocks formed by dragon fire.”

“Are you serious here?” Jon asked. He just sounded so incredulous that Brendon couldn’t help smiling. Yes, it was insane, they would probably die trying to get a rock from a dragon, but god, Jon was cute. 

William rolled his eyes. “The fourth item is the one I think you might have the most trouble getting.” He said. “It’s found north of here, in the sea.” 

Now Brendon went still. That didn’t sound difficult, it sounded impossible. Jon seemed to be thinking the same thing. 

“What is it?” Jon asked. 

“It’s called Shipwreck’s Pearl, because it resembles a pearl, but isn’t actually. It’s found in shipwrecks, at the bottom of the ocean, and it’s formed from the release of magic when ships sink. Most ships actually have magic built into them in some way or another.” He told them, perking up with interest. “There are people all over the world with fae blood, or some other sort of magic blood, and they often enchant things, like cloth made for ships, or wood that their husband chopped up, without realizing it. So when the ships sink, the magic is released, but the pressure of miles of water on them forms Shipwreck’s Pearls. Sometimes. Other times, the magic just gets torn apart and you end up with three eyed fish swimming around. You might have to check more than one shipwreck.” 

“Okay, but Brendon can’t go in the sea.” Jon said. “That was the whole point. He’ll turn into sea foam.”

“I don’t know.” William said. “I don’t know how the hell you guys are supposed to get this stuff, just that you are. Sorry, Jon.”

Brendon sighed a little. He got Jon’s attention and signed slowly ‘If you don’t want to do this I understand.’

Jon looked up at him, concerned. “Do you not want to?” He asked. 

‘I’m going to try either way.’ Brendon signed. ‘But you aren’t obligated to help. It’s dangerous.’

Instead of looking relieved like Brendon had sort of expected, Jon looked kind of hurt. He glanced at William, and then back at Brendon. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?” He asked. 

Brendon shrugged and nodded, letting Jon lead him away to a private room in the house. 

“Brendon.” He said seriously. “I. You know I love you, right?

Brendon blinked and very tactfully did not say no. Jon seemed to hear it anyway. 

“Brendon.” He repeated. “Okay. Brendon. I’m saying it now. I love you. A lot. Like, ridiculously. I love you so much that Butcher and Sisky are making fun of us because there’s finally a couple that’s sappier than them.”

Brendon just stared, wide eyed. 

“Um.” Jon seemed to lose some of his confidence and shrink back. “If you. Um. Don’t want to be a couple.”

Brendon waved his arms around, trying to tell Jon that no, he didn’t not want to be a couple. He wanted to be the sappiest couple, he wanted to be made fun of by their friends for being so sappy. 

Jon just looked at him. Brendon gathered his thoughts into something coherent. ‘I want to be a couple. I love you too. I just didn’t know that you.’

“Oh.” Jon said. “Okay. So. We’re good, now?” 

Brendon leaned in and kissed Jon gently instead of responding with his hands. 

“Okay, so anyway.” Jon said once they had broke apart. “So, about the ingredients thing. Yes, I’m going to help. I don’t like that you assumed I wouldn’t. I get that it’s dangerous, and I’m willing to do it. Maybe I’m not obligated to help, technically, but I love you, and that’s enough of an obligation for me.” 

Brendon smiled a little and leaned in, tucking his face into Jon’s neck. 

 

“Okay?” Jon asked. 

Brendon nodded against his shoulder.

“All right.” Jon said. “We should probably go make a plan for our little quest, then. Any ideas how the hell we’re going to go get a pearl out of the ocean?” 

Brendon shrugged. ‘We’ll figure it out. Do the easy stuff first.’

“The easy stuff.” Jon repeated. “You mean climbing a mountain and exploring a cave? That easy stuff?”

Brendon nodded, grinning. 

“Okay.” Jon said. “Just making sure.” 

That night, Brendon opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar dream. Spencer, or rather, a dream version of Spencer, was sitting across from him, smiling at him. 

This had happened a few times since Brendon had left the castle, and while it hurt quite a bit to see Spencer and Ryan in his dreams, knowing that they weren’t real, that they didn’t actually feel that way about him, the dreams were nice. 

But now, when dream Spencer leaned in to kiss him, Brendon pulled back. “I can’t.”He said. 

Spencer blinked at him. “What do you mean? Brendon?”

Brendon tried to find the words to explain. It was probably futile anyway. He was trying to justify himself to a dream, but still. It felt like he was talking to Spencer, and that mattered.

He kind of shrugged. “I can’t. Spencer. I don’t want to talk to you anymore, okay? You need to… Leave me alone. Just leave me alone.” 

“Brendon?” Spencer asked again, sounding confused and a little hurt. 

“Seriously, just leave me alone.” Brendon said. It hurt, but he needed to stop clinging to a dream. Jon was real, and Jon loved him. He needed to get over Spencer and Ryan. 

“Leave me alone.” He repeated one last time, and then the dream blurred out and faded.  
\----------------------  
Tom and the others helped them get packed for their quest, and after a couple days of preparation, they headed out. They went east first, heading along the river towards the mountains. They took a cart, since Jon refused to let Brendon walk that far. Brendon had just gone along with it because to be completely honest, he hadn’t been looking forward to walking it. 

They brought Brendon’s knife, though Brendon considered it partly Jon’s now, since Jon was the only one to ever use it. They brought Brendon’s pipe that he had gotten from Patrick as well. Jon brought his guitar, teaching Brendon to use it along the way. They spent most of the time on the trip trying to make music as they bounced along in the cart.

They finally arrived at the base of the mountains, stopping at a very small town to find somewhere to leave the cart. The rest of the way they would have to go on foot. 

THey decided to stay the night at an inn, and continue on their way in the morning. The people at the inn were very kind, and one old man gave Jon all the tips he could on how to make it up the mountain. 

The next morning, Brendon woke up first and just stayed in the bed until Jon woke up, curling into him and making soft noises. It was kind of adorable, Brendon thought, smiling down at Jon and playing with his hair. 

They got up and started up the mountain. Luckily, it was still summertime, so even though the air grew much colder as they climbed, there wasn’t actually any snow. As they hiked upward, Jon told Brendon stories about other mountains he had heard of, places bigger and steeper than this one. Brendon was pretty sure he was making most of them up. 

It took them three days to reach the summit. Brendono felt it was at least a little bit his fault, because they had had to keep stopping because of the pain in Brendon’s feet, but Jon insisted it was better to go slower. It was safer. 

They reached the summit, and Brendon stopped breathing for a moment. Then he started up again, because he had been having enough trouble with the thin air. If he didn’t breathe he would pass out and then who would protect Jon from the cute baby mountain goat that had totally been following them all day?

It was amazing, though. When Brendon had been confined to the sea, all he had known was the water. He had dreamt of touching the sky, but never thought he actually would. Even once he made it to the land, got to start walking around on solid ground, the sky still seemed so unattainable. 

But here they were, literally above the clouds. It was incredible. 

Jon took Brendon’s hand, staring out over the land below with him, and then, when Brendon finally looked over to him and smiled, pointed up at a crevisse just a little bit above their heads. There were the flowers, standing out bright against the grey rock. Brendon stepped towards the side of the rock, reaching up to see if he could reach them. He couldn’t. 

He looked over at Jon, and Jon looked thoughtful. He stepped over, and then ever so carefully, wrapped his arms around Brendon’s legs and lifted him up. 

Brendon stretched his shoulders up until his fingers just brushed the plant. He very carefully wrapped his hand around the stem of one of tehm and pulled it from the rock. 

He tapped at Jon’s shoulder until Jon dropped him gently on the ground and stepped back a little bit. 

 

Brendon gave Jon a wide, bright smile and held up the flower. It looked basically like it had in the picture Bill had shown them, covered in fuzzy petals that explained the name “feather rose.” Jon took it carefully and looked it over. 

“Perfect.” He said. “Should we head down?”

Brendon thought about it for a moment. He was kind of reluctant to leave, although they had gotten what they had come for. He looked back at the horizon, at the clouds just below them. He signed, ‘Tomorrow?’

Jon looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he nodded. “Yeah.” He said. “We should just spend a night up here.”

They found shelter near some rocks to keep the wind out, and Jon got a fire going while Brendon pulled their blankets out of their packs. It was luckily warm enough to not freeze to death during the night, but Brendon figured they would have to cuddle together to stay comfortable. 

Brendon didn’t think either of them would mind that. 

They stayed up late, sitting by the fire and watching the land below them. Sometime around midnight, when Brendon was starting to doze off on Jon’s shoulder, something brushed Brendon’s leg. 

 

It took all of his willpower and a lifetime of practice at not reacting to seaweed brushing his leg for Brendon not to move. When he looked down, the goat that had been following them was laying there, head against his leg. 

He stifled a little laugh, slapping at Jon until Jon looked over.

“Holy shit.” Jon muttered, staring at it. “What the hell, dude. You made a friend.”

Brendon grinned at him for a second, before ever so slowly reaching out and touching the goat’s head. It’s fur was long and coarse, and strange to be touching, but there it was. Brendon had made a mountain goat friend. 

They went to bed not long after that, but Brendon couldn’t fall asleep right away, for all that he had been half asleep before. Maybe the goat had caused some adrenaline, but still. Jon too seemed wide awake, used to staying up late working as a blacksmith and trying to finish projects. 

The next morning, when they woke up, the goat was nowhere to be found. Brendon figured it had gone back to its family or something. He wished it well as they packed up their stuff and started the long, arduous journey back down the mountain. 

It was harder going down than it was going up, harder on Brendon’s legs at least. At one point, when it was not too steep to be dangerous, Jon had Brendon climb on his back to give his legs a rest. 

They made it to their cart, and Jon asked Brendon if he wanted to stop by town on their way west, since they would be going past it anyway. 

Brendon nodded, figuring it would be safest to drop off the flower immediately so that they didn’t lose it. He thought maybe they could spend a night at home as well. Just a night. He didn’t mind their adventure, was even enjoying it so far, but sleeping on top of a mountain had left his back so sore. 

 

They headed home, and when they finally got there, went straight to where Tom and William and the others lived. They dropped off the flower, and William asked which one they were going for next. Jon told him the plant to the west, in the caves, and he nodded. 

“Will you be back after that one?” He asked. “I was thinking, I could just send the potion with you when you leave to get the last thing. That way he could take it right away.”

Jon nodded. “That would be great. We should be back after this one, and then I’m not sure where we’re going next but we should be back after the third one as well.” He looked at Brendon to confirm and Brendon nodded. 

They stayed overnight and in the morning, headed west towards the caves. It was another journey of several days, but the time passed quickly. Jon and Brendon started making up songs to amuse themselves. Jon sang them for now, but he said once Brendon got his voice back, Brendon could do it. 

Brendon had kind of shrugged him off. He knew he had a good voice and all, but he didn’t know how Jon had come to that conclusion, and he didn’t want to brag about it. Maybe they could just harmonize. That would work. 

They arrived at the caves, and as Brendon stared into the mouth of it, he felt a wave of deja vu wash over him. He couldn’t place where he could have possibly seen this cave before, but he knew he had seen it. It was strange. 

Jon led the way into the cave, Brendon following behind him. He kept poking at the memory the way you poke at a loose tooth, trying to figure out what the cave reminded him of. 

They walked carefully for hours, climbing down over the rocks. There was something vaguely resembling a path that they followed, although Brendon was scared that it would give out under their feet and drop them and impale them on a stalagmite or something. 

They finally found their way into a tunnel that opened up into a wider cave, and Brendon inhaled sharply and stopped dead. Jon stopped and turned a little, looking concerned.

Brendon had finally realized what this place reminded him of. It looked a little different, different details, but the general layout of the place matched Gerard’s grotto exactly. The cave in front of them matched up with the cave where Gerard had made Brendon’s potion. 

“Brendon?” Jon asked. “What’s wrong?”

Brendon signed ‘Sea witch. The cave matches.’

“What, like it looks the same?” Jon asked. Brendon nodded. “Oh.” Jon said softly. 

“What do you think it means?” He asked. 

Brendon shrugged. He stepped forward, past Jon, and into the mouth of the cave. It was a few degrees colder in there than it had been in the rest of the cave, and a shiver ran through Brendon’s body.

He scanned the cave, and his eyes fell on the plant, right in the center, looking just like the sketch William had shown them. But something was wrong. 

Jon stood behind Brendon, reaching out and gripping his hands. “Should we just go get it?” He asked. 

Brendon considered it, but shook his head. He turned towards Jon a little and signed ‘Call hello.’

Jon obeyed, saying “Hello? Is anyone there?” 

His voice echoed and faded in the dark cavern. It was chillingly silent for a moment, and then a loud, high pitched giggle echoed through the cave. It sounded incredibly creepy, until the man stepped into a certain part of the cave and it stopped echoing. Then it just sounded silly and a little adorable. 

Brendon and Jon stared at the short guy standing in front of them. 

“Hey!” He practically yelled at them. “What brings you to the cave of the cave witch?”

Neither Brendon or Jon moved. Brendon just stared at the guy, taking him in. He was short, as short as Brendon and Jon, if not shorter, and he had shaggy dark hair, and dark marks winding their way up his arms.

“...Who are you?” Jon asked finally. 

“I’m the cave witch.” He said, grinning at them. 

Brendon caught Jon’s attention and signed ‘Like the sea witch, Gerard?’

Jon repeated it to the ‘cave witch’. The guy’s grin grew, if it was possible.

“Oh, Gerard.” He started dramatically. “The love of my life, cursed to be so far away from me.”

Brendon snorted a little, and the guy stopped his dramatizing. “What? Oh. Wait, that sounded a little weird, didn’t it. I mean, I’m cursed to be away from him, too. It’s not like. Anyway.”

He shook his head, hair flopping around, and started over. “Well, anyway. I’m Frank. He’s Gerard. We have these two caves, right, I don’t know if you noticed that they match, but they do. But I can’t visit the sea and he can’t visit the land, so we only see each other twice a year, on midsummer and midwinter, when the three suns and sixteen moons line up and the tides flood the land far enough that he can swim to my cave.”

Brendon sighed a little, and Jon looked at him. ‘How romantic’ He signed. 

Jon snorted a little bit, and Frank asked “What’s so funny?”

“He thinks it’s romantic.” Jon told Frank, nodding at Brendon. 

“Well it is, isn’t it?” Frank said. “Wait. Who are you people?” He asked. 

Jon and Brendon exchanged a look, and Brendon nodded to Jon to explain it. 

“Brendon was merfolk.” Jon began, “But then he-”

“Oh my god, you’re Brendon? The mermaid Brendon who Gee turned into a human? I thought you were dead!”

“Mermaid?” Jon asked. “Gee? You thought Brendon was dead?”

“Hey, if Gerard, that’s Gee, and I can be witches, Brendon can be a mermaid. Gender roles are boring and stifle creativity anyway.” Frank said earnestly. “And dude! Gerard totally thought you were dead when you didn’t come back to the sea. He thought you became sea foam and that it was all his fault. He was actually really, really torn up about it. It sucked.” He added, frowning. 

Brendon blinked, not sure what to say or how to react. Jon spoke up instead. “Okay. So you know Brendon’s story?” 

“Yeah.” Frank said. “Except for the part about what are you doing here?” 

“We’re trying to break Brendon’s curse.” Jon said. “We have a friend who can make a potion to get his voice back, but we need Sour Istoth as an ingredient.” He glanced pointedly at the plant in the middle of the room. 

 

“Oh. Yeah, you can have some of that old thing.” Frank said. “But be careful, you shouldn’t handle it with bare hands like that. Do you have a bag?” 

Jon produced the leather bag he was carrying their necessities in. Frank carefully picked some of the Sour Istoth and tucked it inside. “Seriously, don’t touch that. Be careful.” Jon nodded, closing the bag. 

“So what else do you need for the potion?” Frank asked conversationally. 

“After this, we need Dragon Pyroxene and a Shipwreck’s Pearl.” Jon said. 

“Damn.” Frank said. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Brendon nodded, smiling a little ruefully. 

“And how the hell are you going to get the Pearl?” Frank continued. “You can’t swim! Sea foam!”  
“We have no idea, actually.” Jon said. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, Gerard could probably get one for you. Except you would have to go all the way to the sea up north to get it, but he could probably bring it to the surface for you. Or find someone to do it. Seriously, he feels really bad about what happened. He really thought you would get your prince.” Frank addressed Brendon to say the last part, and Brendon shrugged awkwardly, Jon watching them. 

‘How would Gerard know to get the pearl?’ He signed. Jon repeated the words out loud. 

“Well, I can just send him a message.” Frank said. “We’re witches, remember, even if we only get to see each other every six months, we can talk all the time. I’ll message him, tell him to find a pearl and bring it to the surface, when?”

Brendon and Jon exchanged a glance. “Well, we still have to get the Dragon Pyroxene,” Jon said. “We’re going to do that first, and then stop home, and then head north.” 

“So maybe not the next full moon, but the one after it?” Jon asked. “That gives you a month and a half.” 

“That sounds fine.” Jon said. “We could be there by then.”

“Perfect.” Frank said. “He’ll be there, night of the full moon, northermost pier, with a Shipwreck’s Pearl.”

Brendon nodded. 

“Thank you.” Jon said. “That’s incredibly helpful. Thank you so much.”

They said their goodbyes, and Frank promised to message Gerard right away, and then Brendon and Jon left the cave. It took longer to climb out of it than it had to get in, and when they finally got out, they kind of collapsed on the ground just outside, exhausted. 

“Ready to head home again?” Jon asked Brendon. 

Brendon grinned at him and nodded. They climbed back into the cart and headed back towards the town, taking turns getting some sleep. Neither of them said it aloud for fear of jinxing it, but they thought if their adventure kept going this well, Brendon would have his voice back in no time.

They made a quick stop back at home to drop off the Sour Istoth, and then steeled themselves for the hardest task yet: Dragon’s Pyroxene.

The journey was much like the other ones, if a little bit more quiet, a little bit tense. They were both worried. It was a fucking dragon, after all. 

At one point, when they both had nothing left to say, Brendon went to the front of the cart and just watched the trees and landscape pass by. The trees had already started changing colors for autumn, and there were piles of dried leaves all over the ground. Brendon thought another year would pass before he knew it, and then he would have gone two whole years without seeing Ryan or Spencer. Except for in dreams, of course. But no matter how realistic the dream Spencer and the dream Ryan were, Brendon didn’t think it counted as seeing them if they weren’t seeing him back. 

The land where they would find the dragon wasn’t actually on any map that they could find. William had given one with a big area marked “Here be dragons,” but they hadn’t gotten any more information than that. 

Which was why, when they stumbled across the dragon in the middle of the forest, it was a big fucking surprise. 

First of all, the thing was huge. Brendon had been trying not to have too many expectations, but he still had not thought the thing would be that big. It was bigger than any other animal Brendon had seen, except for that one whale that one time. But it was definitely a lot bigger than any animal Brendon had seen on land before. 

The dragon was green, and it wasn’t smooth and scaly like the myths suggested. It had long pieces of horn all along its body, and it blended well with the branches of the trees. 

Their cart was stopped, and Brendon and Jon didn’t move for a moment. This was not what they had been expecting. There was still a town south of here, they figured they would leave their cart there, and then go looking for the dragon. They had never expected the dragon to be in the middle of the forest. 

It had spotted them. Brendon realized this just a second before Jon did. Jon moved first. He dove out of the cart and onto the ground, jumping up and quickly tugging at the reigns on the donkey, trying to free it. Once it was freed, it took off running away from them, back the way they had come. Brendon hoped it would be all right. He grabbed the bag they had brought, the one with their most important things in it, and tossed it to Jon. Jon caught it, slinging it over his back and beckoning to Brendon.

“Brendon, hurry.” He said. “We have to run.”

Brendon took a second to sign ‘Pyroxene,’ before jumping down into Jon’s arms. Jon placed him carefully on the ground. 

“Forget the pyroxene. It’s not safe, we can try something else.” 

Brendon looked back at the dragon, torn with indecision. 

“Brendon!”

The dragon was getting closer, creeping towards them. It looked incredibly predatory. Brendon thought that its mouth was probably big enough to eat him whole. 

Jon pulled Brendon backwards, away from it. It started to rise up, spreading its wings in a show of aggression. The wings were beautiful, Brendon thought. The bones looked like tree branches, covered with a thin but strong layer of what resembled moss. They had to be good for camoflage, and Brendon kind of wanted to see them in action. 

“Look out!” Jon yelled, pulling Brendon down as the dragon reared up and then breathed literal fire at them. 

 

It went over their heads, but they felt the heat wave. It felt like it was going to melt them, it was so hot. Brendon looked ahead and saw that their cart had caught fire. 

“Brendon, we have to get out of here!” Jon yelled. The path was to their left, though, behind the cart, and behind them was more forest, forest that they had been warned off of going into by every wise old man they had met on the way there. 

‘Left,’ Brendon whistled, incredibly grateful that they had felt the need to make up a whistle signal for it. 

Jon nodded. “On three?”

Brendon nodded, staring at their path, figuring out where he could put his feet for the least amount of pain. 

Jon did the count, and then they both took off running, Brendon jsut a half step behind Jon. 

The dragon moved lightning fast, and Brendon didn’t really see it coming, but felt the claw catching him and knocking him backwards. 

 

He hit the ground on his back, got the wind knocked out of him, and didn’t move for a moment. In front of him, the dragon was slowly coming towards him, looking almost as though it was playing with him. 

As soon as he got his breath back, Brendon rolled underneath the cart, remembered that it was made of wood, and rolled out to the other side of it. The dragon let out a little snort with a stream of smoke, and turned back towards Jon. 

Brendon stopped breathing for a moment. Jon was backed against a tree, staring at the dragon. it crept slowly towards him. Brendon wondered if that was really an efficient way to hunt, moving slowly when things had already seen you. Then he realized it probably didn’t matter, the thing was a dragon. It could do what it wanted. 

“Brendon, run!” Jon yelled, seeing Brendon staring at him from the other side of the smoldering cart. “Get out of here!” 

Brendon didn’t bother signing. He was pretty sure Jon could see the ‘Not without you’ in his face. The dragon continued moving toward Jon, and Brendon looked around for something he could do to help. Behind him, he spotted something interesting. 

He glanced back at Jon. Jon had gotten the knife out of their bag and was holding it in front of him. Brendon bit his lip, hoping to any deity that was listening for the dragon not to attack Jon right away. 

He turned his back to them and ran to the big, old tree that the dragon had been wrapped around when they first encountered it. There was something shiny in the trunk, and he could practically feel the magical power coming from it. 

Brendon got close enough to see, and let out a slow breath. Wow. 

He reached out, stopping just before he touched the dragon eggs. It was a girl dragon, and she was defending her nest. 

He looked around the rest of the crevisse. There were five eggs in total. There was also a bunch of smooth, black stones surrounding the eggs. Dragon Pyroxene. 

Brendon glanced back at the dragon and Jon, still at a standstill, facing each other, and then reached into the nest and curled his hand around one of the stones, not touching the eggs. 

The stone was blindingly hot, and he let out a loud gasp of air, dropping it on the ground in front of him. The dragon shot upright and turned towards him. He could practically see the anger radiating from her. Oh, wait. Maybe that was just the heat. 

She stepped forward, baring her teeth at Brendon. Brendon thought quickly, and then tore a stripp off of his shirt, wrapping it tightly around his good hand, and then picking up the pyroxene.

The dragon moved quickly, jumping over the flaming cart and landing in front of Brendon, snarling at him a little bit like one of Jon’s cats. Brendon moved very slowly away from the tree. 

“Brendon.” Jon sounded almost close to tears. Brendon continued to move slowly, until he thought he was out of range of the dragon’s claws at least, and then he took off running. He went past Jon, reaching out with his burnt hand to grab Jon by the shirt and drag him along until Jon got with the program and started running with him. 

They ran for what seemed like forever, until finally, a town that they had passed a while ago came slowly into view. They slowed to a jog, and then a walk, and then finally Brendon collapsed on the side of the road, curling up and putting his head on his knees and sobbing silently from the pain in his legs and hand. 

Jon dropped to his knees in front of Brendon and pulled him into a tight hug, not letting go until Brendon’s breathing evened out. Then he sat back on his heels, lifting Brendon’s face and cupping his cheeks. 

“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?” 

Brendon showed Jon his hand, where the burnt skin was starting to blister. 

“Shit.” Jon whispered. He pulled open the pack and got out a bottle of water. “Water, okay? We have to like, cool it down.” 

Brendon nodded, holding his hand out so that Jon could pour the water over it. It hurt at first, and then soothed, and he tried to take some deep breaths. 

When Jon had run out of water, he got some clean cloths from the bag and very carefully wrapped Brendon’s hand up. Then he sat on the ground on the side of the path with Brendon, wrapping his arms around Brendon and just holding on to him. Brendon leaned into his embrace for a couple minutes, ensuring that Jon was safe. 

After what turned out to be more than a couple of minutes, Brendon finally pulled away from Jon. He rooted around in the grass a little to find the stone he had taken from the dragon’s nest and held it out to Jon. 

Jon took it carefully, feeling the heat even through the cloth around it, and moved the cloth to see what it was. 

“Dragon Pyroxene?” He whispered, looking up at Brendon in wonder. “Oh my god. Brendon!” 

Brendon grinned at him, and Jon started laughing, clinging to Brendon.

“I can’t believe you.” Jon said, shaking his head in amazement. “You could have died.”

Brendon grinned some more, and Jon moved in, kissing Brendon hard. “Seriously. I thought we had just, like we would have to just give up. But you got it.”

Brendon nodded, still grinning. 

“Wow.” Jon said. “Okay. We should try to make it to the town, then. We can rest there and figure out what we’re going to do next.” 

Brendon nodded, starting to struggle to his feet. His legs still burned from trying to run, and Jon noticed when he stumbled. “I could carry you?” He offered. 

Brendon looked up at him with a very grateful smile. 

They made it to the town and stayed there overnight, and then wondered how they were going to get the money for a new cart. Brendon ended up just going to the town square at lunchtime, and playing his pipe until people threw enough money at him to get lunch. He counted it up and blinked in surprise, hurrrying to find Jon and show him. 

“Oh wow,” Jon said when Brendon had told him the story of how he had played for money. “Do you think we could get enough money to make it home?” 

Brendon nodded. 

“Well then.” Jon said. “We should find a place to stay, then, and you still need medical supplies.”

They ended up staying in the town for a while, letting Brendon’s hand heal, and refining their musical skill by playing for money every day. When they finally had enough for a cart, they got one and started back home. It took them a while to actually get home, and they dropped off the Dragon Pyroxene to a relieved William. 

“Took you a while.” He said. “Tom was worried.”

“Uh huh.” Jon said, rolling his eyes a little. “Okay. Tom was the only one worried.” 

They ended up leaving again almost right away, only waiting for the potion to be all but done so that they could take it with. Jon was a little worried about making it to meet Gerard in time, since they had to go so far north. Once the potion was completely finished except for the Shipwreck’s Pearl, they bottled it up and took it with them and started the journey towards the sea.

They traveled for almost two weeks, just kept going further and further north and away from home. As they got closer to Spencer’s kingdom, Brendon felt more and more nervous about it. He knew there wasn’t anything to be nervous about. Spencer was king now, he wouldn’t be wandering around the streets, and Jon and Brendon wouldn’t be going into the castle. There was no way that they could possibly run into each other. 

Still. If they did, Brendon had no idea what he would do. Probably just run away and not stop running until he made it back to the home he shared with Jon, potion be damned. 

They finally made it back into Spencer’s kingdom, and Brendon felt his sense of dread increase. Something was wrong, something was going wrong. He couldn’t really place it, and he didn’t know if he was imagining it, but something was very distinctly not right. 

They rented a room at an inn, and Brendon took longer than usual to fall asleep, even soothed by Jon’s arms around him and gently fingers in his hair. 

That night, Brendon dreamt of Spencer, who he hadn’t dreamt of in a while, not since he had told dream-Spencer to leave him alone. Somehow, this dream seemed more real than the others. More vivid, more lucid. More authentic. Brendon wondered in passing if it was because he was so close to Spencer now. 

“Brendon.” Spencer said. “Where are you?”

Brendon smiled sadly at him, sitting down on the bed in the dream room. 

“Hi, Spencer.” He said. “We’re pretty close to you, actually. In the city right now.” 

“We?” Spencer asked. 

“Me and Jon.” Brendon told him. “He’s. You’d like him, I think. I guess he’s my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend.” Spencer repeated, looking dejected.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” Brendon told him. “You married Ryan.”

“Sorry.” Spencer said. 

Brendon rolled his eyes. Maybe he was bitter, but that didn’t mean Spencer should go around apologizing. “Don’t say that. You love him, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but so do you.” Spencer said. “I took him from you.”

Brendon turned around so that he didn’t have to roll his eyes so hard they fell out. He wondered what had happened to the awesome sex dreams. Okay, so maybe he was the one to stop those. But why did Spencer and Ryan have to keep showing up to have deep, serious talks with him?

“You also took you from me. When you married him.” Brendon said. “I was kind of in love with both of you.” There was no harm in telling a dream, right? And maybe if Brendon said it out loud it would stop bugging him. 

“Was?” Spencer asked. 

Brendon exhaled hard. “Well.” He said. He wanted to say that he had Jon now, that Jon was enough, that he didn’t even want Spencer and Ryan anymore. But it wasn’t exactly true. Jon was enough, more than enough, and Brendon loved him with all his heart, but he knew he still loved Spencer and Ryan, even after all this time apart.

“Then why’d you come back to the city?” Spencer asked. Brendon wanted to swear at him.

“To try to break the witch’s curse.” He said. “I want my voice back.”

“Oh.” Spencer said. 

“Yeah, so.” Brendon said. “We have stuff to do tomorrow, so if you could leave me alone to sleep, that would be cool.”

“Okay.” Spencer said. He still looked hurt, but Brendon turned away. He had Jon now, he didn’t need Spencer. 

The dream blurred and faded, and Brendon settled into a restless sleep for the rest of the night. 

The next morning was the day before the full moon when they were supposed to meet Gerard. They had just barely gotten there in time. They headed out towards the beach, deciding to go find the exact pier where they were supposed to meet Gerard, so that they wouldn’t have any trouble finding it at night. They packed some food, and when they found the pier, they settled down in the grass near it to have a picnic.

Jon seemed to be able to tell that Brendon had been on edge since they had entered the kingdom, and that it had only gotten worse since his dream about Spencer the night before. Brendon didn’t want to talk about it when Jon asked, but he did cuddle up to Jon until he felt safe enough to relax in his arms. 

After that, they headed back to the inn they were staying at. Brendon and Jon held onto each other tightly until the moon came up.

That night was the full moon, and they headed out to the pier just after darkness fell. Brendon sat there, leaning against Jon and signing awful merfolk jokes to him. Just after midnight, a head broke the surface of the water and swam towards them. Brendon leaned forward and realized after a minute that it wasn’t Gerard, it was Kara. 

“Hello, Brendon.” She said. 

Brendon waved at her. 

“Hello, Brendon’s friend.” She said to Jon. 

“I’m Jon.” Jon informed her calmly.

She shrugged a little and floated a bit higher in the water so that she could comfortably talk to them. “Gerard sent me with this, for you.” She said, sliding a seashell container onto the pier. 

Brendon picked it up and opened it, checking that the pearl was in there. It was. He closed it again and held it close.

“Thank you.” Jon said to her. 

“He also said that you should be inside, somewhere private when you take the potion.” She added. “Don’t just do it anywhere. He said you would be arrested for witchcraft by hypocrites. I don’t know what that means, but that’s what he said.”

“Okay.” Jon said, glancing at Brendon. Brendon shrugged at him. “Thank you so much.”

“Just stay safe, okay Brendon?” She said. “You still have the knife?” 

Brendon nodded. 

“Okay. We got your bottle message, a very long time ago, and we were expecting another one, but it never came. You need to keep sending those, all right? We want to know what’s going on with you. Matt is trying to train a seagull to bring messages back to you.”

Brendon grinned a little. Of course Matt was. He nodded again. 

“Goodbye, then. I’ll write you once we get it working.” She said, and dove back into the water.

Brendon and Jon headed back to the inn, then, and once they were there got the potion they had worked so hard for. Brendon uncorked it and dropped the pearl straight in, as per William’s instructions. It dissolved right away, and they were left with a cloudy liquid.

“Don’t spill it.” Jon said jokingly. 

Brendon grinned, flipping him off. He raised the vial, and Jon said cheers, and then Brendon chugged the whole thing down. 

It didn’t taste like the last one. The last one had just tasted like saltwater, like the sea. This one was, maybe more plain? More earthy? Brendon didn’t know how to describe it. 

He drank the whole thing and set the vial down on the table, looking at Jon. 

“Well?” Jon asked. 

Brendon shrugged a little. He didn’t feel any different. He waited a minute to see if anything happened, but it didn’t. He finally opened his mouth and tried to say something, but nothing came out. 

Then, though, something changed. Brendon got all tingly, all over his body. He didn’t know what it was, but it felt strange. 

“Brendon.” Jon said, sounding concerned. “Your skin.”

Brendon looked down at his hands and stifled a little gasp. They were glowing, legitimately glowing. The tingly feeling increased, becoming more like pins and needles, as though his entire body had fallen asleep. He faintly hoped that William hadn’t decided to poison him. He heard Jon’s yell, and then everything went black. 

When Brendon woke up, he was in bed, and the sun was streaming through the windows of the inn’s room. Jon was next to him, looking scruffy and exhausted, like he had stayed up as late as he could watching over Brendon. Brendon wouldn’t have been surprised to find out he had. 

He wondered if he could talk now, and he figured there was only one way to find out. 

He opened his mouth and croaked out “Jon.”

Jon’s eyes flew open, and Brendon grinned as widely as he could. “Jon.” He said again. “Jon. Jonathan Jacob Walker. I can talk!”

Jon talked Brendon from the bed, hugging him tightly, laughing and crying all at once. “Say it again. Brendon, say it again.” 

“Jon.” Brendon said. “JON!”

Jon just clung to Brendon, and they stayed there for what felt like hours, celebrating. That of course, turned into a makeout session, and finally Brendon just curled up next to Jon. 

Brendon cuddled up to Jon, pressing his face into Jon’s bare shoulder. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling. 

Jon brushed a hand through Brendon’s hair, settling it on his neck, thumb rubbing gently at his nape. 

“So now what?” He asked. 

Brendon almost disentangled his hands from their bodies, before realizing he didn’t need to use them to talk anymore. “I don’t know. We should. I kind of want to see the city a bit.”

“Yeah?”

Brendon nodded. 

“I thought it was making you uneasy earlier.”

“Yeah. It still kind of is. But I think it’s all in my head. And I do want to see at least some of the city.”

“Okay. We can do that. Today?”

“Maybe tomorrow.” Brendon said, pushing himself up and kissing Jon again. 

\--------------------

The next day, they did indeed spend in the city. Brendon kind of wanted to see the zoo, but they would need money to get in. Jon suggested they try playing music again. It had worked pretty well before. 

Brendon agreed, only this time Jon insisted that Brendon sing. He said that he hadn’t gotten to hear it yet, and he was desperate to. Brendon smiled sheepishly. He did miss singing, kind of a lot. 

So Jon played guitar, and Brendon settled on the corner and started singing. Three songs in they had gathered a bit of a crowd, and Jon was looking a little bit thunderstruck, staring at Brendon. Brendon danced a little bit to the song, adding in some hip movement just for Jon’s benefit. 

Of course, then, that was when it all went wrong. 

There was a discontented murmuring from the small crowd surrounding them, and then it parted, and someone came through into the center, staring at Brendon. 

Brendon broke off mid word, and Jon stopped playing a beat later. Brendon was just standing there, shell shocked, staring at Spencer, when Ryan ran into Spencer from behind, saying “Spencer, what the hell?”

Jon’s eyes widened, and Brendon turned, looking back at Jon helplessly. 

“Brendon.” Spencer said. “You’re here. You. You were the one.”

“Okay.” Ryan muttered, sounding irritated. Brendon winced. “Let’s take this somewhere that’s not the middle of the town square, okay, Spence?”

“Um, yeah.” Spencer said, finally breaking eye contact with Brendon. “Sure. Do you have somewhere to go?”

Brendon hesitated, and then nodded. “We can go back to the inn.” He said, glancing at Jon to make sure it was okay. Jon nodded. 

Brendon pressed himself against Jon’s side as he led the way back to the inn, Spencer and Ryan following him. 

“You okay?” Jon asked in a low voice. 

“I don’t know.” Brendon whispered back, before realizing that whispering was ridiculous. He switched over to sign language and said, ‘Do you mind?’

Jon shook his head and signed back ‘Just want you to be okay with it. You don’t have to talk to them.’

Brendon snorted. ‘They’re kings.’

Jon rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t care if they’re the emperor. They hurt you.’

Brendon shrugged. ‘They didn’t mean to.’

Jon shook his head. ‘Doesn’t make it okay.’ He signed, before tucking his arm around Brendon’s shoulders and holding Brendon close to him, signifying that the conversation was over.

They kept walking and made it to the inn. Brendon led the way in and pretended not to notice the glare Jon sent at Ryan and Spencer. Once in the room, Brendon perched on the bed, and Jon sat down next to him. 

“All right.” Jon said. His tone wasn’t particularly friendly, and Brendon leaned into him just a little, trying not to be obvious about it. “Explain.”

“Um.” Spencer quailed a little bit under Jon’s glare. “Brendon. Okay. I’m Spencer, and this is Ryan.” 

“This is Jon.” Brendon said, and Spencer jerked a little bit, sitting up straight and staring at Brendon.

“Jon.” Ryan repeated. He and Spencer exchanged a speaking glance. “Your boyfriend, Jon.” 

Brendon nodded, slowly. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked. 

“Looking for you.” Spencer said. 

“But. You guys are married now. You’re the kings. You can’t be running around in the city. Where’s Zack?” Brendon protested. 

“We’re not the kings.” Ryan said. 

“Thank god for that.” Spencer muttered. 

“What?” Brendon asked snappily, feeling out of the loop.

“I didn’t want to be king.” Spencer said. “So I made Crystal do it.”

Brendon blinked, hit with the memories of Spencer telling him how he didn’t want to rule the kingdom, but how his little sister did. “Oh. Right.”

“So now, we’re kind of. Background figures. We have a lot more freedom.” Ryan said. “Brendon, where have you been?” 

“Um.” Brendon said. “South of here. By a lot.” He said. “That’s where I met Jon.”

“But why did you leave?” Spencer asked. “I mean, I get why you, why you’re upset with us. But why did you just leave in the middle of the night?”

Brendon sighed deeply, and then started to relay the long story of how he was born underwater, how he had made the deal with the sea witch, why he couldn’t talk. He told them how he and Jon had broken the curse so that he could talk. He told them how he had been the one to rescue Spencer from the shipwreck, and that he had been singing to Spencer. He told them that a condition of the curse was that he had to win Spencer’s love, or he would turn into sea foam. 

When he said that part, Spencer looked sick. He exchanged a glance with Ryan, who looked deeply uncomfortable and guilty. 

“We were coming to find you.” Spencer said. 

“What?” 

“That night. We were coming to find you. We weren’t complete without you. We were going to ask you to join us.”

Brendon stared at him, uncomprehending. How could that be possible? How could they have been looking for him?

He didn’t say anything else on the topic, trying to understand that. In the end, he just changed the subject.

“How did you know we would be in the city?” Brendon asked next. 

“Did you have a dream last night?” Spencer asked. “Did you dream about me?”

Brendon inhaled sharply and sat back on the bed when he realized what Spencer was getting at. He searched his mind for some sort of explanation, but there was no way for Spencer to have known that Brendon had dreamt about him, unless. Unless Spencer had been in the dream as well. Really, actually in the dream.

Brendon was suddenly really glad he had stopped having dream sex with them. He hated to imagine what the conversation would be like if he hadn’t. If he had to sit there and look Jon in the eye and say ‘Yeah, I cheated on you, but I didn’t think it was real so it’s okay.’

“The dreams were real.” He said out loud. “The ones with Ryan, too?”

Ryan nodded. “They must have been. I dreamt about you.”

“Wait, what dreams?” Jon asked, sounding frustrated. “Brendon, what are you all talking about?”

“I was having dreams of Spencer and Ryan for months, and I thought they were just dreams, but apparently they were magical or something. Probably Ryan actually is descended from fae like he thinks. They were having the same dream and we talked.”

“Oh.” Jon looked just a little dismayed, and like he was trying to hide it, and Brendon’s chest hurt. 

“Brendon.” Spencer said suddenly. “In the last dream. You said. Do you remember what you said?”

Brendon felt his face flush, and he nodded. “I remember.” 

“Did you mean it?” Spencer asked quietly. 

Brendon closed his eyes a little, feeling like they were all staring at him, like no matter what he said it would hurt someone he loved. 

“Don’t.” He said harshly. “Don’t make me do that. It’s not your place to ask me that.”

Spencer leaned back a little bit, glancing between Brendon’s face and Jon’s. “I’m sorry.” He said. 

Ryan hesitated visibly, and then reached out to take Spencer’s hand. The wedding ring glinted on his hand.

“I think maybe you should go.” Jon said, quiet but firm.

“Okay.” Spencer said, voice flat.

Brendon stared at his hands, listening to them get up and walk out the door. “Brendon?” Jon asked. 

Brendon didn’t move. He felt the bed move as Jon shifted, and then strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him tightly against Jon’s chest. Brendon closed his eyes, leaning into Jon’s grasp. 

“I’m sorry.” He said. “Jon, I’m sorry. I love you, you know I do, but I’m still in love with them and I don’t know how to not be and I’m sorry.”

Jon just held onto Brendon tighter, tugging him onto the bed so that they could lay together. He turned Brendon around, lifting his chin up. Brendon looked away, trying not to meet Jon’s eyes, but Jon held him in place and said “Brendon.”

Finally, Brendon looked up, trying to brace himself for rejection, to be told that he wasn’t good enough because he wasn’t in love with Jon enough. He met Jon’s eyes, and Jon smiled just a little. “I can’t be mad at you for having so much love in your heart.” He said. Jon leaned in, kissing Brendon gently, on the lips, under his eyes, on his jaw. “I love you, Brendon, and if you love me, I think that’s good enough.”

“I do.” Brendon said. “I do love you Jon, I.” His voice cracked, and he leaned forward, burying his face in Jon’s shoulder. 

“All right, then.” Jon said. “Come on, easy. We’re okay.” He maneuvered them again so that they were lying more comfortably on the bed, and hugged Brendon to him. Brendon curled up, face against Jon, breathing in his scent and feeling loved as the awful fear dissipated. 

“What do we do?” He whispered. “Do we just go back home?” He felt all mixed up inside. He didn’t know what Spencer or Ryan were thinking, and he didn’t know what Jon wanted and he- Well, he did know what he wanted, but obviously that wasn’t an option, so. 

The feeling of dread from when they had first entered the city was back full force, and Brendon tried to stay calm. Jon helped, but still, he felt sick deep inside and didn’t know why. 

They lay there together in silence for a long while, and then Jon spoke. “Brendon?”

“Yeah?” 

“Can you tell me. You don’t have to, okay, but I was wondering if you would tell me…”

His voice trailed off, and Brendon squeezed his hand tightly. “Go on.” He said. 

“What Spencer, that one was Spencer, right?” Brendon nodded. “What he asked you if you meant?”

“Oh.” Brendon said. He was quiet for a moment, processing. 

“You don’t have to.” Jon said again. 

“He- during the dream, the last time I dreamt of him, he said, I don’t remember exactly what, but I told him I was in love with him and Ryan.”

“Oh.” Jon said. “And he asked if you meant it.” Brendon nodded against Jon’s chest. 

Jon didn’t ask him if he had meant it, and Brendon was grateful for it. 

They lay there cuddling for a while longer, before suddenly, Brendon sat up straight. “Did you hear that?” He asked. 

“What?” Jon asked. 

Brendon jumped out of the bed and ran to the window, pushing the curtain aside and looking out. “Holy shit.” 

“What’s wrong?” Jon asked, hurrying over. 

Jon looked out the window and sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. “Shit.”

The streets below were crowded with people running every which direction, screaming and shouting. There was a thunderous boom, and Brendon looked up, to see smoke rising from behind the buildings across the street. 

“We have to get out there.” Brendon said. 

“What? No way, it’s too dangerous!” Jon said, catching Brendon’s arm as Brendon went past.

“Jon, I.” Brendon hesitated. He didn’t want to say it, that Ryan and Spencer were out there somewhere, and that despite everything he had to go after them and make sure that they were safe. On the other hand, he had to make sure Jon understood that he had to go. 

Jon seemed to get it, staring into Brendon’s eyes. “I’m coming with you.”

“What?” Brendon startled. “No, wait, you stay where it’s safe!”

“You’re not going out there on your own, Brendon, it’s dangerous.” 

Brendon let go of Jon, relenting. “Okay.” He said. “Thank you.” 

Jon nodded. “Come on, then. We should hurry, if we’re going to find them.”

They headed out of the room, out of the inn, and into the streets. Brendon wasn’t sure where to go to look for Spencer and Ryan, but Jon seemed to have a plan in mind. He gripped Brendon’s hand and tugged him down a street, around a corner, and towards where they had seen the smoke coming from. 

They sprinted down the street, and Brendon nearly crashed into Ryan sprinting in the opposite direction. 

“Whoa!” Brendon said, stumbling to a halt.

“Spencer!” Ryan said. 

Brendon was about to snap something witty about how ‘no, he was Brendon, remember,’ but something in Ryan’s face stopped him. 

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“They grabbed him, they. He.” Ryan’s hair was sticking up in every direction, and his eyes were wide and panicked. “They grabbed him, they’re gonna hurt him.” 

“Okay, okay. Where?” Jon asked. 

Ryan turned, catching Brendon’s wrist, and dragged him down the street in the direction that Ryan had come from. They stopped at the end of the alley, hiding behind some trash cans, and Ryan pointed. 

Brendon sucked in a deep breath. He recognized those people. Not their faces, but he recognized their clothing, their mannerisms. 

On that fateful night when he had rescued Spencer from the pirates, he hadn’t paid much attention to what the pirates looked like, but it seemed that they had ended up ingrained in his memory anyway. 

“Pirates,” He said out loud to Ryan.

Ryan looked over at him sharply. “They’re trying to- They grabbed Spencer.”

Brendon wondered vaguely if it was the same group of pirates who had attacked the ship all those months ago. “Why?” He asked. “Why are they here?” 

Ryan shook his head. “Does it matter? We have to save Spence.”

Brendon frowned a little. “What do we do?” He asked. 

Jon rested a hand gently on Brendon’s back as he peered around him out past the garbage cans and looking into the plaza where the pirates were. It was hard to see anything properly, with the flames in the center and the darkness everywhere else. 

Brendon could see movement, barely make out different shapes, but it was too hard to tell what was going on. There was a yell, Spencer’s yell, of pain, and the pirates laughed loudly. Brendon flinched hard, groping behind him to grip Jon’s hand. Ryan lunged forward as though he was about to run into the plaza, and Brendon fisted a hand in his shirt to hold him back. 

“You can’t.” He managed. “Ryan, you can’t.”

Ryan fought him for a moment before sagging back, face tight. “What the fuck do we do, then? They’re hurting him. They’re going to take him!”

Brendon tried to take deep breaths. “We go to the castle. We get help. Do people know you guys were in town? Spencer’s family? Zack?”

“I. Yeah, they knew. We’re. Crystal’s in charge now, Zack guards her instead, cause nobody’s going to attack the prince who’s never going to rule the kingdom.”

“Obviously that’s not true.” Jon said. Brendon glared at him a little bit. 

“Not helping, Jon.” 

“What, so we just leave? Leave Spencer here?” Ryan asked. There was another yell from the plaza, and they all flinched again, even though this one sounded more angry than in pain. 

“We’re outnumbered, Ryan. If we just, if we just attack, then we’ll get ourselves hurt as well.”

Ryan pressed his palms into his eyes, hunching in on himself for a moment. 

Brendon waited, before pressing. “Do you know the fastest way back to the castle?”

Ryan took a deep breath in, his shoulders went back, and his head came up. “Can you run?” 

Brendon and Jon nodded. 

“Then follow me.”

Ryan led them back down the alley, away from the plaza, and as soon as they were far enough from the pirates that they could move without fear of being seen, took off running. 

Brendon and Jon followed, through the twisting and turning of the innermost city, crowded with people and buildings. Ryan knew his way, possibly better than people who had lived there all their lives, and with fear and adrenaline lending them strength, they practically flew through the city and to the castle. 

They continued to run, through the castle gates and towards the main entrance. Brendon thought vaguely that he had never in his life run that long or that far, but he didn’t even feel out of breath. 

Ryan pounded on the doors until someone let them in, and then ran through the entrance hall, yelling and shouting orders. The soldiers and servants in the hall jumped to do something, although Ryan was incoherent enough that they didn’t know what to do. 

Brendon realized with a start that Ryan could technically be considered a king now, after marrying Spencer. The people in the hall weren’t jumping to obey him just because he was yelling. 

Brendon stepped forward, putting a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. Ryan quieted a little, and Brendon spoke. His voice echoed in the hall. “The city is being attacked by pirates. Spencer Smith is- They attacked Spencer.” He tried to find the words. ‘Come on, Urie, you’re a prince too’, he told himself. ‘You know this.’

“We need soldiers to protect the city.” He said, trying to sound commanding. “We need a search party to go after Spencer. The pirates must have gotten here somehow, I’m guessing they came by ship from the North Sea. We need to send a party towards to find the ship, stop them from escaping or doing more damage. If.” He stopped for a moment, trying to keep his voice under control. “If they manage to take Spencer, we need to send a ship after them. We need to be ready for that.”

The entire hall was deathly silent for a moment. “Aren’t you the guy-” Someone asked. 

“Do as he says!” Ryan snapped, voice coming out loudly. The room snapped into motion. 

“We need to- We need to.” Ryan said. He looked back and forth, frantic and overwhelmed.

Brendon forced himself to stay calm and in control. “We need to find Crystal. And Zack. They need to know what’s going on. We need to make a plan and get back out there. We need to be out there, finding Spencer.” 

“Okay.” Ryan said. “Okay. So.”

“Crystal is where?” Brendon prompted. 

“I don’t know.” Ryan said. “We need to find Zack. He’ll know.”

Ryan led them quickly through the halls of the castle. It hadn’t changed much since Brendon had last been there, and it brought back vivid memories of limping through stone corridors, of laughter and love and heartbreak. But Brendon had bigger problems right now. 

Ryan found a door and pounded on it, hard and frantic. It swung open a second later, and Zack’s concerned face looked out at them. 

Ryan didn’t waste any time. “Spencer’s in trouble and the city’s being attacked by pirates.” He said. 

Zack opened the door all the way. “Get in here and explain.” 

Ryan stepped into the room, approaching Crystal, who appeared to have been going through finance scrolls. She stood up when she saw his face. “What’s going on.”

“Hey, Zack,” Brendon said in a low voice to Zack. Zack just stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head and turning away. 

Ryan was explaining to Crystal what was going on as quickly as possible, bouncing from foot to foot. He got the entire story out, and then they were heading out the door, taking off through the castle again and out to the gates. 

They got out to the courtyard, and then Crystal was off, commanding the soldiers as though she was born to do it. 

“I think we’re going to have you two head down to the docks.” Zack told Ryan and Brendon. “Crystal and I will ride out to the town and try to get things under control, but it’s sounding like the pirates already have enough of a head start that they’ll get out of here. We’ll need you two to go with the soldiers who go after them.”

“Three of us.” Jon said. Zack looked at him oddly, but didn’t comment. 

“Okay, three of you. If you head out to the docks now, you can get the ship untied and take off as soon as the pirates do.”

“What, so you’re just going to let them take Spencer and then hope we catch them in time to get him back? Hope that we can take them down with our ship?”

Brendon understood his doubt. He had seen the pirate ship in action, had seen it ship one of the royal ships. He didn’t particularly want to be on the ship that tried to catch it. 

Of course, he would, for Spencer, but he wasn’t about to look forward to it.

“It’s our best bet, Ryan. We have to protect the town as well.” Zack said, voice strained.

They took off, heading towards the shore. Zack stayed with Crystal, handling the town, trying to mitigate the damage from the attack. Brendon, Jon, and Ryan caught up to the soldiers preparing the pursuit ship. They boarded right away, and Brendon, Jon and Ryan ended up next to each other on the starboard side, watching the smoke rising from the city in the distance. 

“Are you okay, Brendon?” Jon asked. 

Brendon looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“The sea.” Jon clarified. “I know it’s not. You know, dangerous anymore,” He said, glancing at Ryan to make sure he wasn’t giving away things Brendon didn’t want to talk about. “But are you still okay with this?”

Brendon shrugged. “As okay as I can be, I guess.” He said. “It is what it is.”

Ryan was watching them curiously, but he looked back at the town when a particularly bright explosion flashed. His face was grim in the evening light, staring at the town as though he could see spencer from where he was. 

Brendon wanted to reach out and hug him, but. He didn't suppose that was an option. He leaned against Jon's chest instead. 

"Look." Jon said suddenly, pointing over across the shore. Moored a ways away from them was the dark hulking ship, and it looked like it was taking off. 

"Do you think they got back?" Ryan asked intently, moving around them to try to get a better look. 

"Maybe." Jon said. "If they didn't have any torches with them, they would have been able to and we wouldn't have seen them."

"Shit." Ryan said. "We need to follow them before they get away."

He flagged down one of the soldiers, giving orders quickly and in a low voice. The man nodded and headed off to relay the orders to whoever their captain was. 

The ship started moving not long after that, and Brendon stumbled a little as it lurched. He was completely unused to the ground shifting under his feet, and he staggered sideways with every wave. Eventually Ryan caught his hand and helped him to a pole to hold on to. 

They tailed the pirate ship for what felt like hours across the dark waters. It took long enough that Brendon let go of the pole, shaking out his hands. Everything hurt from staying still for so long, from standing there all tensed up. He slowly sat down on the main deck of the ship, and Ryan and Jon sat next to him. 

They must have been far from the castle, halfway across the ocean, when the pirate ship slowed down, someone starting to lower the sales. They were too far to see if they dropped an anchor or not, but Brendon assumed that they had. 

“What do you think is going on?” He asked out loud. No one answered. The soldiers on the ship were rushing around, doing sailor-y things that Brendon didn’t understand. He turned, looking for Ryan and Jon. Jon came up behind him, draping an arm over his hips and hanging on to the ships bannister to steady them both. 

“It looks like they’re stopping.” He said. 

“Yeah.” Brendon said. “But why?” 

Jon shrugged, watching. “I think the soldiers are planning to attack.” He said, and Brendon turned to look up at Jon’s face. 

“What about Spencer? He’s on that ship!”

Jon nodded. His face was grim. Brendon tried to keep his breathing steady. “What do we do?”

People were rushing every which way on the ship, and Brendon sank back against Jon to keep himself upright. There was yelling, and everything seemed to be moving as though in a dream. Brendon tried to process what was happening, but his mind wouldn’t work the way it was supposed to. 

The ship rocked suddenly, and Brendon barely noticed it. He was fixated on the horrible boom, and the way the pirate ship rocked when the cannonball hit it. He was pretty sure he wasn’t breathing. 

The soldiers fired again, but they missed, and then they were hauling up the anchor and the ship was moving again, moving closer. Brendon stared at the ship, looking for something, some indication that Spencer was okay, that it was going to be okay. 

What he saw didn’t reassure him. Their ship fired again, and then there was fire crawling across the pirate ship. Brendon found himself pressed against the rails, staring at the figures on the ship, in the water, looking for some sign of Spencer. 

“There.” Jon said suddenly, pointing out over the water. Brendon focused where Jon was pointing and stared. It took him a moment to see what Jon had, but when he had he sucked in a deep breath. 

Spencer was in the water. Brendon couldn’t tell if he was staying afloat, but even if he was, it had to be dangerous for him there, with the battle going on all around him. 

Ryan let out a little gasp, and Brendon clung to Jon. 

“Hang on.” Jon said. “I can- just. I’ll.” Brendon let out a wordless shriek as Jon let go of him and climbed over the railing of the ship. 

“Jon, no!” Brendon wasn’t actually sure is it was him or Ryan who had shouted it. They both moved, reaching out as Jon leapt into the dark waves below. 

He hit the waves in a neat dive and started swimming strongly towards Spencer. There was a split second when Jon reached Spencer that Brendon thought everything might be okay. 

And then the soldiers fired again, and Brendon fell backwards onto the deck, blinded by the explosion of the pirate’s ship. 

When he finally got his bearings again, the ship was moving away and Ryan was clinging to him. Brendon struggled a little, trying to reach the bannister, to get a look at what had happened. 

Ryan pulled him away, and Brendon realized that there were tears on his face. That, more than anything else made him understand what had happened. Spencer and Jon were gone. 

A month passed, and Brendon and Ryan spent it together, trying to pull themselves together. It wasn’t working all that well. Most of the time if Brendon dreamt, it was nightmares, horrible images of the explosion over and over. It was a blessing when he didn’t dream. 

Finally, there came a night when Brendon dreamt, but it wasn’t a nightmare. What he saw instead was a little more jarring, but in a different way. 

Brendon thought he was awake at first when he opened his eyes and saw the bedroom he was standing in. But it wasn’t the room he had been sharing with Ryan, it was the dream room where he had met with Spencer and Ryan while he was living with Jon. Sitting on the bed in front of him was Spencer. 

Brendon stood there for a second, just staring at him, drinking in the sight of his face. It really had been a long time.

“Um.” Dream-Spencer said finally.

Brendon waved a little bit, smiling sadly. 

“Brendon.” Spencer said. He reached out, but Brendon pulled away. 

“Hi Spencer.” He said quietly. 

“Brendon.” Spencer repeated. “Where are you?”

Brendon shrugged a little. “With Ryan.” He said. “We. We miss you.” 

“We miss you too.” Spencer said. 

“Who’s we?” Brendon asked, confused. 

“Me and Jon.” Spencer said. “We’re together. In the waking world.” 

Brendon’s breath caught in his throat. “What? Where are you?”

“I don’t know. The pirates took us.” He explained as much as he could of what had happened after the explosion. It seemed… almost plausible, but Brendon was afraid to believe it. 

“We miss you, Brendon.” Spencer repeated. The dream got fuzzy, and Spencer tried to say something else, but it didn’t work. The dream was already gone.

Brendon sat bolt upright in bed, breathing hard. 

“Brendon?” Ryan asked, looking over at him. Ryan looked awful, eyes bloodshot like he hadn’t slept all night. 

“I had a dream.” Brendon said dully. “I. Do you think.”

“What?” Ryan asked. 

“I dreamt about Spencer. Do you think we could have been wrong? Or was it just wishful thinking?” 

“Dreamt about him how?” Ryan asked, moving towards Brendon and staring at him intently. “Like the magical dreams?” 

Brendon nodded. “Yeah. It was. It was just like them. He said that they. He said a bunch of stuff. But I don’t know if I, like if it was just.”

“Did he say stuff you didn’t want to believe? Or only good things?” Ryan asked, brow furrowed.

 

“I. Both.” Brendon said. He was going to elaborate, but he couldn’t get the words out. “But if you’re the fairy, how could he have.”

“You did before.” Ryan said. “Maybe I just have to be near one of you? Or maybe.”

“What?”

“Magic works in weird ways, right? Do you think it’s possible that when we got married, like.” 

“It counts as being related? Like it doesn’t have to be literal blood relation?” Brendon got what Ryan was trying to say, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought it might be a legitimate option. “Do you think that means that he’s, like, fae now?”

“I don’t know.” Ryan’s tone was frustrated. “Maybe? I don’t really know anything more about this than you do, Brendon.”

Brendon pursed his lips and looked down. “What do we. Should we do something?”

Ryan was still and silent for a moment. “Yeah. We have to. Of course we do. It’s Spence.”

“And Jon.” Brendon said. His voice broke a little, and Ryan looked at him sharply. 

“Yeah.” He said finally. “And Jon.” 

Brendon took a deep breath in, and then exhaled slowly, eyes shut, shoulders hunching forward. “Spencer said he doesn’t know where they are. In the dream. And that he’s with Jon. I think, if we go, we should head out across the North Sea. That was where we last saw them, right?”

“Yeah.” Ryan said. “Crystal will let us have a ship. We can head North and East, I think, and see what we find?” 

“Yeah.” Brendon said. “I can see if I can get someone’s attention and see if they’ve noticed anything lately.”

“Perfect.” Ryan said. “If they’re out there.”

“We’ll find them.” Brendon finished. 

They headed out across the seas, traveling for what felt like forever. The day they finally stepped above deck and looked out over the water and saw land in the distance, Brendon felt like he was going to shake out of his skin. 

“Holy shit” Brendon breathed, staring. “Did you know this was here?” 

Ryan shook his head. “I’ve sailed these seas every summer, going to see Spencer, but I guess I’ve never gone far enough East to see that. It’s not on any of the maps, either.”

“But someone had to have seen it before, right? It’s a fucking island, how do you hide something like that?”

Ryan shook his head. “If they, if that’s where the pirates are...”

“You think they killed everyone who saw them?” Brendo asked sharply. 

Ryan shrugged awkwardly, which Brendon figured was Ryan-speak for yes. 

“What does that mean for us?” Brendon asked suddenly.

“Or Spence and Jon.” Ryan said gloomily.

“Hey. Dude. We’ve been over this. We’re acting under the assumption that they’re alive.” Brendon told him firmly. 

“Okay, fine. Do you think we’re, like, actively in danger, though?” Ryan asked. 

Brendon turned around, scanning the sea around them, and then turning to look back at the island. “Probably.” He said. “Have you ever seen pirates attack a ship?”

“Okay.” Ryan said. “You have a point.”

Brendon nodded. “It wasn’t. Good.” He said. 

“Let’s go, then.” Ryan said decisively. “If we don’t want to get attacked, we should keep moving, right? Don’t hang out for too long in one place.”

"Okay." Brendon said. "Right."

So they drew slowly up to the island, approaching carefully. The soldiers dropped them off on the shore, but none of them were willing to go with them. 

It took them less time than they expected to find the room where Spencer and Jon were being kept, and Brendon nearly collapsed right there when he saw them. They didn’t look good, per say, but they were alive, and that was so much more than Brendon had thought not too long ago. 

It was the most nerve wracking moment of Brendon’s life, standing guard while Ryan used his magical fairy powers to break into the cell. He got in, and they helped Jon and Spencer onto their feet and ever so carefully out of the place, all the while terrified they would be caught. 

In one last moment that felt like the culmination of years of stress and trial, they made it past the open beach and back onto the ship, and took off immediately. They all barely made it into private before they were collapsing into each other, crying and holding each other. 

Fuck everything else. After everything they had been through, the four of them had to stick together. 

And Brendon was pretty sure that with the four of them together, they could do anything.


End file.
